Iraq already flies the Bell 407. On 31 August 2026 the U.S. State Department cleared it to buy a great many more of them, along with a bigger stablemate and enough guns, rockets and sensors to turn utility helicopters into armed scouts.
The approval, logged as Transmittal 26-85, covers Bell 412EPX and Bell 407M helicopters plus related equipment, at an estimated total cost of $800 million. Notably, the notification does not say how many aircraft are involved.
This is a Foreign Military Sale approval, not a signed contract. Quantities, configuration and final price can all move before anything is delivered.
Quick Facts
Approved: 31 August 2026, State Department Transmittal 26-85
Value: $800 million estimated total
Aircraft: Bell 412EPX and Bell 407M — quantities not disclosed
Weapons: GAU-19 three-barrel machine gun launchers; M260 2.75-inch seven-tube rocket launchers
Sensors: L-3 Wescam MX-15HDI electro-optical/infrared; AN/AAR-60 Block 2 missile launch detection
Prime contractor: Bell-Textron, Fort Worth, Texas
What Iraq is actually buying
The GAU-19 is a three-barrel .50-calibre rotary gun. The M260 is a seven-tube launcher for 2.75-inch rockets. Bolt those onto a light single-engine helicopter with a Wescam MX-15 ball under the nose and you have a cheap armed scout that can find something and shoot at it without waiting for a strike aircraft.
The AN/AAR-60 missile launch detection system is the defensive half of the package — it warns the crew that a shoulder-launched missile is on its way, which is the threat that has historically hurt helicopters in Iraq.
“The proposed sale will improve Iraq’s capability to meet current and future threats by improving its rotary wing transport, reconnaissance, and air-to-surface targeting capabilities.”
U.S. Department of State — Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Transmittal 26-85, 31 August 2026
The State Department framed the deal in the standard language of these notifications, saying it will support American foreign policy and national security “by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner”.
The Russian helicopters in the background
There is a wider re-equipment story here, though it needs handling with care. A 2026 Department of Defense Inspector General report on Operation Inherent Resolve noted that Iraq’s Ministry of Defence had lodged Foreign Military Sales requests for four Bell 412EPX and 16 Bell 412M helicopters to replace Russian-built Mi-17s, along with 15 Bell 407Ms to replace existing 407s in the light-attack role.
An Iraqi Army Aviation Command Mi-171E. Iraq has operated Russian-built Mi-17 family helicopters for years, and a Pentagon watchdog report has described requests to replace them with American types. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jason Lake
Those figures come from the watchdog report, not from this sale. Defense News was explicit that the OIG numbers should not be read as the quantities or configuration behind the $800 million approval. Still, the direction of travel is hard to miss: Iraq’s rotary fleet has been part Russian and part American for two decades, and the American share keeps growing.
Bell’s own presentation of the 407M — the militarised version at the centre of this deal — is below.
Whether all of it gets bought is another question. Congressional notification is the beginning of the process, not the end, and Iraqi defence budgets have swallowed ambitious plans before.
Sources: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (Transmittal 26-85); Defense News; Reuters; U.S. Department of Defense Office of Inspector General report on Operation Inherent Resolve.