MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) - A Tunisian request for US military helicopters has been approved by the President Barack Obama administration and currently awaits approval from Congress, Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki said during a speech at the Atlantic Council.
"We asked the United States to give us about 12 Black Hawks," Marzouki said on Tuesday at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. "We badly need them now," he added.
Under the request, Tunisia would receive 12 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters costing approximately $700 million according to a notice posted by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency late last month. The agency said the helicopters would be equipped with 100 AGM-114R Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, Hydra-70 rocket pods, infrared laser designators, and night vision goggles.
The prime contractor of Black Hawk is Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp. Marzouki has also stated the Tunisian military requires further training in response to recent threats.
“The proposed sale will improve Tunisia’s capability to deter regional threats and strengthen its homeland defense, as well as support counter-terrorism operations,” the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.
Tunisia is currently facing a militant threat predominantly due to attacks from the al Qaeda offshoot Ansar al-Sharia and an influx of fighters and weapons entering Tunisia as a result of surrounding conflicts. Fighters fleeing a French military intervention in Mali last year have taken refuge in the Tunisian mountainous Chaambi region bordering Algeria since April.
In the past Tunisia was the site of revolutions which transformed the Arab world. In September 2012, Tunis, the capital of Tunisia was the location of an attack on the US embassy.
