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.
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Russian strikes on Ukraine overnight killed at least two people and injured 15 others, including two children, Ukrainian authorities said. Meanwhile, Russia said it had intercepted the vast majority of 630 Ukrainian drones launched towards Moscow.
Saudi Aramco has ordered staff to evacuate its headquarters amid escalating Houthi attacks on the kingdom. Two people were killed in an attack on Dammam airport, while Iran's IRGC Navy claimed strikes on seven vessels and warned the U.S. of a wider response.
Russia is willing in principle to resume peace talks with Ukraine and the United States in November, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said after President Vladimir Putin met U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg.
Super typhoon Champi is set to batter Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture from Friday (23 October), bringing violent winds, torrential rain and waves up to 11 metres high, as airlines cancel flights and organisers scrap a major festival.
If you tried to visit a government website in Europe on Wednesday and found it down, you weren’t alone. Agencies across the continent pulled their sites offline after serious security flaws were discovered in PHP, the programming language quietly running behind most of the world’s websites.
Israel has ordered security forces to seal off Hebron and prepare a full closure of the West Bank after a shooting near the city wounded at least five Israelis. Soldiers killed the two gunmen.
France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Friday that 70,000 security forces would be mobilised throughout the country to keep order on Saturday, adding there have been calls for looting and violence from the ultra-left.
Missile and drone attacks have put Saudi Arabia on high alert, disrupting life in Riyadh and testing a new defence pact with Türkiye and Pakistan as regional tensions escalate.
Romanian authorities are searching for missing crew members following an incident involving a ship in the Black Sea. Romanian President Nicusor Dan attributed the incident to Russian escalation.
From Typhoon Champi in Taiwan and a deadly earthquake in Tibet to severe flooding across Europe and Latin America, communities on several continents have faced a week of devastating weather and natural disasters.
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