The government of Taiwan plans to purchase 60 Black Hawk helicopters from Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., in a deal valued at $3.1 billion if the U.S. government approves the contract.
It is unclear how many helicopters and needed parts would be built at Sikorsky”™s headquarters in Stratford, with Taiwan asking for unspecified “offsets” as part of the deal. A division of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp., Sikorsky is the largest employer in Fairfield County with more than 9,000 employees.
Fairfield-based General Electric Co. would manufacture the aircrafts”™ engines at its GE Aviation plant in Lynn, Mass.
The helicopters are part of a larger defense purchase that includes Patriot anti-missile systems from Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon Corp., and two minesweeper ships from Northrop Grumman Corp.
In response, the government of China suspended military exchanges with the United States and promised other sanctions.
