No sooner had Boeing (BA -0.76%) got the word last week that its sale of 36 Apache attack helicopters to South Korea (for $904 million) was a go, than Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced a similar, smaller deal for the Seattle warplane-builder.
Apache helicopter. Source: Boeing.
This one's in Indonesia, and at $500 million in estimated value, and involving only eight new Apache AH-64E attack helicopters and included Longbow radars, it's much smaller in size than the Korean deal. Still, $500 million here, $500 million there, and pretty soon you're talking real money.
Today's deal announcement was made at a joint news conference between Hagel and Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, on the occasion of Hagel's visit to Indonesia -- part of an eight-day, four-nation trip that has already taken Hagel through Malaysia and will soon see him in both Brunei and the Philippines.
"Helping ensure the [Southeast Asian] region's security and prosperity is a goal the United States strongly shares," said Hagel in announcing the Apache sale. Whether news of further arms sales will be shared when he reaches Brunei and the Philippines remains to be seen.
