State Dept. approves missile warning system sale to Egypt

The U.S. State Department has approved a proposed $81 million sale of common missile warning systems to Egypt for several types of helicopters.

The sale would involve warning systems for the AH-64E Apache, UH-60 Blackhawk and CH-47 Chinook helicopters, as well as related equipment, training and support, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement Friday.

Congress was notified of the potential sale Thursday.

The sale would involve 67 AN/AAR-57 common missile warning systems, as well as installation and integration, installation mounting kits, countermeasure dispenser test sets, technical assistance, U.S. government training and contractor training, publications and technical documents, quality assurance and other related logistics and program support elements.

It would equip the Egyptian air force's multimission helicopter fleet with a detection system for infrared missile threats.

Prime contractors would be BAE Systems and DynCorp.