The United States has approved the possible sale of five Seahawk maritime helicopters to New Zealand in a deal valued at $1.5 billion, as Wellington moves to strengthen its armed forces.
The U.S. State Department said on Friday that it had approved a potential Foreign Military Sale of MH-60R multi-mission helicopters and related equipment to New Zealand.
The helicopters are produced by Sikorsky, a subsidiary of U.S. defence company Lockheed Martin.
The planned purchase forms part of New Zealand’s wider effort to modernise its military and increase defence spending over the coming years.
The centre-right government announced in 2025 that it would invest an additional NZ$9 billion, around $5.21 billion, over four years. It also plans to raise defence spending to 2% of gross domestic product within eight years.
Last month, the government allocated NZ$1.58 billion, around $916 million, in new defence funding as part of that programme.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said New Zealand could no longer rely on the relatively stable security environment of previous decades.
“We've moved from a benign environment to a much more globally strategically competitive environment. It's entirely appropriate that we double our defence spending,” Luxon said during a visit to Australia’s Queensland state, where he was attending annual talks with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
The United States has encouraged allies in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region to increase military spending and strengthen defence capabilities.
New Zealand, a close partner of Australia, has expanded its military presence in East Asia in recent years, as concerns grow over regional security and China’s rapidly developing military capabilities.
According to the U.S. State Department, the proposed sale would improve New Zealand’s ability to respond to current and future threats and help protect critical infrastructure.
“The proposed sale will improve New Zealand’s capability to meet current and future warfare threats by providing greater security for its critical infrastructure,” the department said.
It added that New Zealand would use the helicopters and related equipment to strengthen its national defence capabilities.
As the Ukraine war is highlighted by some leaders during the United Nations' 81st General Assembly meetin...
The 81st UN General Assembly returns for its third day in New York on Thursday, with world leaders delivering high-level speeches and holding diplo...
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained low on Thursday, as Iran reiterated that it will neither enter into new negotiations with th...
As the Ukraine war is highlighted by some leaders during the United Nations' 81st General Assembly meeting in New York, Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Thursday with ballistic missiles, killing two people and injuring six, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained low on Thursday, as Iran reiterated that it will neither enter into new negotiations with the United States nor re-open the Strait as long as its conditions are not met, despite recent indirect talks in New York mediated by Qatar.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in New York on Wednesday, as Washington pushes for an end to the war in Ukraine and Kyiv and Moscow continue to strike energy infrastructure.
U.S. President Donald Trump said his team held a three-hour meeting with an Iranian delegation in New York that he described as “very good” and “productive”, with another round of talks scheduled soon.
The 81st UN General Assembly continues in New York on Wednesday, with another day of high-level speeches and diplomatic meetings. The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, global security and international cooperation remain at the centre of discussions.
As the Ukraine war is highlighted by some leaders during the United Nations' 81st General Assembly meeting in New York, Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Thursday with ballistic missiles, killing two people and injuring six, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The 81st UN General Assembly returns for its third day in New York on Thursday, with world leaders delivering high-level speeches and holding diplomatic meetings. Restoring trust, managing global transformation, peace and security, and international cooperation remain at the centre of discussions.
Australia says an OpenAI AI agent gained unauthorised access to a government Medicare statistics portal in June, in what officials say could be an unprecedented case of an AI system breaching a government network.
Pakistan says it carried out air strikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan on Thursday, targeting sites it said were used to store and launch drones, as tensions between the two neighbouring countries continued to escalate.
Here’s your AnewZ Daily Brief for 24 September 2026, with five key developments from the second day of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
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