Valued at $2.3 billion, the new helicopters would have replaced the Royal Norwegian Air Force’s fleet of elderly Bell 412s but the deal seems unlikely to conclude.
US officials have approved the possible sale of 21 Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawks to Norway even though the Nordic nation has delayed the acquisition of new helicopters for its armed forces.
Valued at a total of $2.3 billion, the deal includes related equipment, weapons, spares and training, according to a 21 August congressional notification from the US Department of State.
Oslo has for several years been seeking a replacement for its ageing fleet of 18 Bell 412s, flown by the Royal Norwegian Air Force.
Although Norway had previously looked at the HH-60W, receiving FMS approval in 2025 for nine examples in a $2.6 billion deal, it was deterred by the high cost of the combat search and rescue variant.
It has also delayed the acquisition of new helicopters, in March setting out new defence spending priorities.
“The procurement of helicopters to support the Norwegian Armed Forces’ special forces and land forces has been postponed,” the spending plan said.
It is likely that Oslo placed its FMS request prior to the change in priorities, however.
In its approval notice, the state department says the sale will “upgrade Norway’s rotary-wing capability, allowing [the] Norwegian army and special operations forces to independently conduct operations while taking advantage of a common platform across the fleet. “
Notable inclusions in the list of requested equipment are snow skis, Bambi Buckets for firefighting, external fuel tanks, and a VIP transport kit. Weapons include M134 miniguns, and 7.62m M240 and 0.5cal M3M machine guns.
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