THE TWO AH-1F COBRA ATTACK HELICOPTERS BEING DONATED BY JORDAN TO THE PHILIPPINES PART OF 16 COBRA HELICOPTERS DONATED TO JORDAN BY ISRAEL IN 2015.
A long-held suspicion that everyone was already thinking of has already been confirmed recently by an Israeli contact that the two AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters being donated by Jordan to the Philippines was part of the 16 Cobra attack helicopters donated to Jordan by Israel in 2015.
The UDP source also confirms that this donation by Jordan has the permission and blessing of the US as all US-sourced or US-origin defense materiels still need US approval even if already being donated or re-sold by a 3rd-party.
In essence, besides from thanking Jordan we should also be partly thanking the US as well for not blocking the donation by Jordan.
Jordan has a total of 56 or so AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters of various variants and is currently in the midst of upgrading 12 of their AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters to the latest AH-1Z attack helicopters.
The exact price Jordan is paying to upgrade each AH-1F is not publicly known but it is very likely far cheaper than buying an AH-1Z straight off the production line. A new build Zulu Cobra costs more than $30 million, according to the U.S. military’s latest budget request for the 2019 fiscal year.
This is the only known upgrade program for old AH-1 Cobras so this may serve as a guide for other countries who plans to upgrade older AH-1 attack helicopters into AH-1Z standards.
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