March 17 (UPI) -- Britain's possible procurement of Hellfire missiles through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program has been approved by the State Department.
The decision was delivered to Congress on Thursday by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which manages the FMS program.
"This proposed sale directly contributes to the foreign policy and national security policies of the United States by enhancing the close air support capability of the UK in support of NATO and other coalition operations," the agency said in a press release.
"Commonality between close air support capabilities greatly increases interoperability between our two countries' military and peacekeeping forces and allows for greater burden sharing."
The proposed sale, worth an estimated $150 million, would be for 1,000 AGM-114-R1/R2 Hellfire II Semi-Active Laser missiles, with logistics support services and other related program support.
DSCA said the missiles would come from U.S. stock so there would be no principal contractor the sale.
