Three Allies, One Week, $3.65 Billion

The U.S. State Department approved a string of foreign military sales in the first week of June 2026, covering counter-drone warfare in the Middle East, anti-submarine helicopters in the Pacific, and precision munitions on the Korean Peninsula.

Total estimated value across the approvals: roughly $3.65 billion.

These are approved possible sales — NOT final contracts. Quantities and prices shift during negotiations, and Congress has a 30-day window to block any of them. According to Breaking Defense, that step is rare.

Kuwait: $2 Billion for Counter-Drone Systems — Days After Iran Hit Its Airport

The most urgent deal is Kuwait's.

On June 3, Iran attacked Kuwait's international airport with missiles and drones, killing one person, damaging facilities, and halting flights. Two days later — June 5 — the State Department posted a $1.98 billion approval for Anduril-made counter-drone systems for Kuwait, according to Breaking Defense.

The timing is significant.

The package includes Anduril's Roadrunner-Munition interceptors, Anvil-Kinetic systems, Lattice command and control software, Long Range Sentry Towers, Maritime Sentry Towers, Pulsar electromagnetic warfare equipment, and Menace tactical operations centers. Plus training and logistics.

Retired Kuwaiti air force Col. Zafer Al Ajami told Breaking Defense exactly what the airport attack exposed: Patriot batteries — Kuwait's existing heavy air defense — are designed for ballistic missiles and high-altitude threats. They are NOT built to stop swarms of cheap Shahed drones flying low and slow.

"The airport strike exploited a vulnerability: low-cost Shahed drones overwhelmed Patriot batteries," Al Ajami said. "The new systems specifically counter such saturation tactics, providing the short-range, high-speed reaction time needed to protect the airport and other soft targets from future Iranian aggression."

Modern drone warfare has repeatedly demonstrated the same lesson — from Ukraine to Yemen to now Kuwait. A $3 million Patriot missile to kill a $20,000 drone is NOT a sustainable defense strategy.

Anduril — the defense tech company founded by Palmer Luckey — has been pushing exactly this argument for years. The Kuwait deal is a significant real-world validation.

This sale arrives while the U.S. and Iran are in an active ceasefire and ongoing nuclear negotiations. Iran attacked a U.S. ally's civilian airport during that ceasefire.

New Zealand: $1.57 Billion for Seahawks and Torpedoes

On the Pacific side, New Zealand is getting a significant anti-submarine warfare upgrade.

The State Department approved $1.5 billion for five Lockheed Martin MH-60R Seahawk helicopters, along with airborne low-frequency sonars, Link 16 tactical data systems, 225 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System guided rockets, and 65 AGM-114R Hellfire missiles, according to Breaking Defense.

A separate $69 million approval covers 20 MK 54 lightweight torpedoes — weapons compatible with both the incoming MH-60Rs and New Zealand's existing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.

New Zealand announced last August it had selected the MH-60R to replace eight aging Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite helicopters — aircraft originally acquired from Australia back in 2013. The Super Seasprites are overdue for retirement.

The strategic context is straightforward: the Indo-Pacific is China's primary operating environment. New Zealand — a Five Eyes partner — building out serious anti-submarine capability matters. Submarines are how China projects undersea power across the Pacific, and the MH-60R is one of the best sub-hunting platforms in the world.

South Korea: $106 Million for Precision Bomb Kits

Smaller in dollar terms but significant operationally: the State Department approved $106 million for South Korea to receive 708 KMU-557 JDAM tail kits and 58 KMU-572 JDAM guidance sets, according to Breaking Defense.

The KMU-557 turns a BLU-109 2,000-lb bunker-busting bomb into a satellite-guided precision weapon. The KMU-572 does the same for the 500-lb MK 82 general-purpose bomb.

South Korea's F-35A, F-15K, and F-16C/D aircraft can all deploy these. The bunker-busting conversion kit in particular has operational significance — North Korea's military infrastructure is extensively hardened underground.

What Mainstream Coverage Is Missing

Most outlets are treating these as routine procurement announcements. The full picture is more significant.

The Kuwait deal — Anduril winning a nearly $2 billion international contract within days of a real-world attack proving the exact vulnerability their systems address — is a major story about how the defense tech sector is reshaping military sales. This isn't Raytheon or Lockheed dominating the board. Anduril was founded in 2017. It is nine years old.

The broader context: the U.S. is arming allies across three distinct theaters simultaneously — the Gulf, the Pacific, and the Korean Peninsula — in a single week. That reflects a defense posture responding to real, active threats from Iran, China, and North Korea all at once.

Regular Americans pay for the foreign policy infrastructure that makes these alliances work. These sales aren't charity — allied military capability directly reduces the burden on U.S. forces. A New Zealand Seahawk hunting Chinese submarines is one less job for a U.S. Navy crew. That's the deal.

Given Iran just attacked a Gulf ally during an active ceasefire with the U.S., the conduct of those nuclear negotiations warrants scrutiny.