Seen in the service of the former Afghan Air Force, the MD 530F is to be flown by the Latvian Air Force also according to a US Army contract notification. (US DoD)
Latvia is to field the MD Helicopters (MDH) MD 530F Cayuse Warrior light attack rotorcraft in a proposed deal that was disclosed by neither the manufacturer nor the customer.
First revealed by the scramble.nl aviation blog on 1 October, the pending order came to light in a US Army Contracting Command (ACC)-Redstone Arsenal notification for component repair and contracted field service in support of Latvian Air Force (Latvijas Gaisa spēki: LGs) MD 530F helicopters.
This notification filed on behalf of the US Multi-National Aviation Special Project Office (MASPO) referred to four helicopters to be located at Lielvārde Air Base, with support work to run for a minimum of two years from calendar years 2026–27. While the ACC-Redstone Arsenal notification did not provide specifications for the helicopters to be provided to Latvia, it noted they will be armed.
The Latvian Ministry of Defence told Janes that it is waiting on a formal offer from the US government, which it expects to receive in early 2024. Neither ACC-Redstone Arsenal nor MDH had responded to a Janes request for confirmation and further information at the time of publication.
The Baltic republic recently signed for four Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the US, and the MD 530Fs represent a further modernisation and recapitalisation of its aviation capabilities. Once in service, the MD 530Fs will for the first time afford the country a bespoke kinetic aerial border protection capability.
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