WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of a powerful counter mortar radar system to Saudi Arabia for an estimated $582 million, the Pentagon said on Monday.

The principal contractor for the sale of the RE-3A Tactical Airborne Surveillance System Aircraft Modernization and related equipment will be L3 Technologies, the Pentagon said in a statement.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Mike Stone and Leslie Adler)