A U.S. pilot working with Saudi Arabia’s national guard was killed and his student injured when their helicopter crashed in Riyadh on Thursday, September 6, the Saudi national guard said.
The Saudi national guard named the pilot as Paul Reedy and said he had been flying a Boeing AH-6i, a light attack and reconnaissance helicopter.
The statement did not specify whether Reedy was a military pilot.
The Boeing AH-6 is a light helicopter gunship based on the MH-6 Little Bird and MD 500 series. Saudi Arabia reportedly received its first AH-6i aircraft, the export variant, in June 2017. Riyadh ordered 24 in August 2014.
Saudi Arabia and the United States, longtime military allies, have boosted ties since the election of President Donald Trump in 2016 and the appointment of Mohammed bin Salman as heir to the Saudi throne last year.
The U.S. also provides weapons, aerial refuelling to jets, intelligence and targeting information to a Saudi-led military coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen.
With reporting from AFP
