Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak said on June 13, 2022, at a meeting of the leadership of the Ministry of National Defense and the Armed Forces of Poland, he announced the signing in the near future of a contract for the purchase of 32 Leonardo AW149 multipurpose helicopters.
The third prototype of the Leonardo AW149 multipurpose helicopter (Italian registration number I-RAII, serial number 49006) with the marking of the company PZL-Świdnik during a demonstration in Poland in 2014 (with) Juiliusz Sabak / defence24.pl
According to the information of the Polish resource Defence24.pl, these AW149 helicopters will be purchased as part of the Polish Perkoz multi-purpose auxiliary helicopter program launched in 2020. The program provides for the purchase of 32 multi-purpose helicopters with a payload of at least 1000 kg in three different versions: combat support with the possibility of being used as training for the advanced stage of training (for which dual control should be provided); control (apparently, the "generalovozka" is meant); and reconnaissance and electronic warfare.
The Perkoz program provided for the replacement of parts of the Mi-2, Mi-8T and W-3 helicopters in the Polish army aviation. 12 companies, both helicopter manufacturers and suppliers of services and equipment, have provisionally announced their participation in the tender under the program. However, in March 2021, the Perkoz program was suspended for financial reasons, so its current "revitalization", and even with the final decision on the choice of type, came as a surprise even to Polish observers.
The selected AW149 helicopters manufactured by Leonardo Helicopters (as part of the Italian company Leonardo) should be assembled at the currently owned by Leonardo Polish company PZL-Świdnik in Szvidnik. The desire to give a load to this former main Polish helicopter plant (which produced Mi-2 and W-3 helicopters), apparently, predetermined the choice of manufacturer and type. It should be noted that Leonardo initially offered a lighter AW139 helicopter under the Perkoz program.
The Italian brokerage company Banca Akros estimated the value of the proposed contract at 1.1 billion euros.
The Polish order, if implemented, will be the largest for the AW149 helicopter. Recall that first introduced by AgustaWestland (now Leonardo Helicopters) in 2006, the AW149 9-ton take-off weight class helicopter was positioned as a specially created military multi-purpose vehicle designed to compete with American mass-produced Sikorsky UH-60 series helicopters. The actual civilian counterpart of the AW149 is the AW189 helicopter (which shares a serial number line with the AW149). Despite extensive testing and active demonstration of four built from 2009 to 2016 prototypes AW149 and participation in several international tenders, until recently, the only order serial AW149 was delivery in 2017-2018 six cars in Thailand (five for army aviation and one for the police), and in April 2019, Leonardo managed to conclude the first major contract for the supply of 24 helicopters AW149 for the naval aviation of Egypt (deliveries began in late 2020, when it was delivered the first five helicopters).
