Seen in the service of the former Afghan Air Force, the MD 530F is to be flown by the Latvian Air Force also according to a US Army contract notification. (US DoD)
Latvia is to field the MD Helicopters (MDH) MD 530F Cayuse Warrior light attack rotorcraft in a deal that was disclosed by neither the manufacturer nor the customer.
First revealed by the scramble.nl aviation blog on 1 October, the order came to light in a US Army Contracting Command (ACC)-Redstone Arsenal notification for component repair and contracted field service in support of Latvian Air Force (Latvijas Gaisa spēki: LGs) MD 530F helicopters.
This notification filed on behalf of the US Multi-National Aviation Special Project Office (MASPO) referred to four helicopters to be located at Lielvārde Air Base, with support work to run for a minimum of two years from calendar years 2026–27. While the ACC-Redstone Arsenal notification did not provide specifications for the helicopters to be provided to Latvia, it noted they will be armed.
Neither the Latvian Ministry of Defence, ACC-Redstone Arsenal, nor MDH had responded to a Janes request for confirmation and further information at the time of publication.
The Baltic republic recently signed for four Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the US, and the MD 530Fs represent a further modernisation and recapitalisation of its aviation capabilities. Once in service, the MD 530Fs will for the first time afford the country a bespoke kinetic aerial border protection capability.
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