Norway's $2.3B Black Hawk Buy Closes Out Its NH90 Rebuild
Norway's 21-helicopter, $2.3B Black Hawk order is its third Sikorsky FMS deal in 13 months, rebuilding a fleet gutted by NH90's collapse.
Photo by Rusty Rehl, Joint Force Headquarters, Idaho National Guard, DVIDS, public domain
For more than a decade, Norway’s medium-helicopter fleet has been defined by a program that never worked. The NH90, ordered in 2001 from the multinational NHIndustries consortium, was supposed to give Norway a modern maritime and utility helicopter. Instead, only 13 of a planned fleet were ever delivered, just 8 reached full operational status, and the aircraft that did fly averaged roughly 700 flight hours a year against a requirement of 3,900. Norway terminated the contract in June 2022. “No matter how many hours our technicians work, and how many parts we order, it will never make the NH90 capable of … meeting the requirements of the Norwegian Armed Forces,” Bjørn Arild Gram, Norway’s Defence Minister at the time, said in 2022 (The War Zone, 2025). The dispute was not resolved until November 2025, when NHIndustries agreed to pay Norway a settlement of 375 million euros, about $432 million, closing the book on a program that had cost Norway a working medium-helicopter fleet for most of the 2010s and 2020s.
That history is the context for what the U.S. State Department notified to Congress on August 21, 2026: a possible Foreign Military Sale to Norway of 21 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, valued at an estimated $2.3 billion, under Defense Security Cooperation Agency Transmittal 26-83. The package includes 46 T700-GE-701D engines, 25 AN/AAR-57 missile warning systems, 25 common infrared countermeasure units, 25 AN/APR-39E(V)2 radar warning receivers, 100 satellite communication radios, and 18 M240H machine guns, alongside an extensive search-and-rescue and utility kit: rescue hoists, fast-rope insertion and extraction systems, dual-patient litter systems, a Bambi Bucket firefighting bucket, snow skis, and winterization equipment. The principal contractor is Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky division, based in Stratford, Connecticut, with roughly 15 U.S. government and 15 contractor personnel expected to travel to Norway for fielding and training support.
The State Department’s own justification for the sale names the real mechanism at work: the aircraft will “upgrade Norway’s rotary wing capability, allowing Norwegian Army and Special Operations Forces to independently conduct operations while taking advantage of a common platform across the fleet.” That phrase, a common platform across the fleet, is the throughline connecting this notification to two others Norway has placed since the NH90 dispute began winding down.
A pattern, not a one-off purchase
This is Norway’s third distinct Sikorsky or Lockheed Martin Foreign Military Sale in roughly 13 months, and each one fills a different gap the NH90 left behind. The first was the MH-60R Seahawk, six helicopters ordered in 2023 for Navy anti-submarine warfare work, with a DSCA-notified program value of about $1.1 billion, per Breaking Defense’s 2023 reporting on that notification. The second was the HH-60W Jolly Green II, up to nine helicopters valued at $2.6 billion, approved by the State Department on July 11, 2025, for combat search and rescue and special-operations support. This UH-60M order, 21 aircraft at $2.3 billion, covers Army and special-operations utility work, the role NH90 was originally bought to fill and never delivered.
The MH-60R figure is the DSCA-notified program value reported by Breaking Defense in 2023; the HH-60W and UH-60M figures come directly from the State Department's own notifications, dated July 11, 2025 and August 21, 2026. All three are pre-contract estimates, not final program costs, and each covers a different mission set within Norway's rotary fleet.
The equipment list on this order signals what kind of utility work Norway has in mind. Fast-rope and hoist systems, dual-patient litters, a firefighting bucket, snow skis, and winterization kit describe an aircraft built for Arctic search-and-rescue and general utility flying, not simply troop transport. That is directly the gap NH90’s collapse left unfilled for over a decade, and it is a role UH-60M’s specifications support: a published max speed near 296 kilometers per hour, a range around 592 kilometers, and capacity for roughly 11 troops, per WeaponSpecs’ UH-60M system page, which also lists a flyaway unit cost near $21.3 million. Dividing this bundle’s $2.3 billion across 21 airframes works out to roughly $109.5 million per aircraft, but that blended figure includes engines, sensors, weapons, spares, and logistics support bundled in, not a bare-airframe price, so it is not directly comparable to the flyaway figure.
Every figure in this notification traces back to the State Department’s own release, mirrored in APA’s August 21 wire report on the same notification. The flight-hour shortfall, the 2022 cancellation, and the settlement terms all come from The War Zone’s reporting on the dispute’s resolution, and the pattern across all three Sikorsky orders can be cross-checked against the Forum on the Arms Trade’s own notifications tracker, which logs each DSCA release independently.
What to watch next
Nothing here is final. A DSCA notification opens a congressional review period; it is not a signed Letter of Offer and Acceptance, and the $2.3 billion figure, like the delivery schedule, remains an estimate until Norway and Washington actually contract. What is worth watching is whether Norway keeps pursuing this consolidation to its logical end. Three separate Sikorsky orders in 13 months, spanning Navy, special-operations, and now Army utility roles, only make sense as pieces of one plan: a single manufacturer’s training pipeline, spare-parts system, and maintenance infrastructure supporting Norway’s entire medium-helicopter fleet, replacing a multinational program that spent two decades failing to deliver the same thing.
Sources
- Norway – UH-60M Black Hawk Helicopters — U.S. Department of State, Aug 21, 2026
- State Department has approved the possible sale of UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters to Norway — APA, Aug 21, 2026
- Norway's Sorry NH90 Helicopter Saga Finally Comes To An End — The War Zone, Nov 3, 2025
- Major Arms Sales Notifications Tracker — Forum on the Arms Trade
Systems mentioned
Every system named in this story, with its photo and, where available, a video. Tap a card to open the full spec sheet.
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MH-60R SeahawkFrequently asked questions
Is this a signed contract or just a possible sale? +
Neither yet. It is a State Department and Defense Security Cooperation Agency notification to Congress, Transmittal 26-83, dated August 21, 2026, the required first step before a formal Letter of Offer and Acceptance can be signed.
Why is Norway buying yet another type of Sikorsky helicopter? +
This is Norway's third Sikorsky Foreign Military Sale in about 13 months: the MH-60R Seahawk for Navy anti-submarine work, the HH-60W Jolly Green II for combat search and rescue, and now the UH-60M Black Hawk for Army and special-operations utility work. The stated goal is a common platform across the fleet after NH90's collapse left Norway without a working medium helicopter for over a decade.
What happened with the NH90? +
Norway ordered the NH90 in 2001. The fleet never met its requirements, averaging about 700 flight hours a year against a 3,900-hour requirement, and Norway canceled the contract in June 2022. The dispute ended in November 2025 when NHIndustries agreed to pay Norway a settlement of 375 million euros, roughly $432 million.
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