TSAMTO, June 17. The Polish Ministry of National Defense intends to purchase Leonardo Group AW-149 helicopters, despite the fact that it previously refused to purchase them as part of a project to purchase a medium multi-purpose helicopter.
National Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced plans to purchase AW-149 "in the near future" as part of the Polish Armed Forces modernization program on June 13 at a meeting of the senior staff.
Although the minister did not disclose the details of the contract, including its cost, the number of helicopters purchased and their delivery dates, Polish media reported on the possible purchase of 32 vehicles under the Perkoz multi-purpose support helicopter program. This project provides for the purchase of combat support, control, reconnaissance and electronic warfare helicopters. Leonardo Group has not commented on this information yet.
According to experts, the purchase of AW-149 (if officially confirmed) will be the success of the Leonardo group in Poland, since the company previously failed to ensure the sale of its products to the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland. Considered by the Ministry of National Defense (INR) as a potential candidate to replace the Mi-14 anti-submarine helicopters and Mi-8/Mi-17 transport helicopters, the AW-149PL helicopter lost to the proposed Airbus Helicopters H-225M "Caracal" (later this decision was canceled in favor of the Polish-made S-70i "Black Hawk"). To date, the AW-149 has been ordered only by Egypt and Thailand.
The Polish Defense 24 resource reports that the assembly of the AW-149 will be carried out at the PZL-ЊWidnik enterprise owned by Leonardo Helicopters in Svidnik. Leonardo Helicopters is also offering this platform to the UK as part of the NMH (New Medium Helicopter) procurement project. It is assumed that they will be assembled at the enterprise in Yeovil (in the south-west of England). At the same time, the manufacturer stated that the British-made AW-149 will also be offered on the export market. Leonardo Helicopters noted that the British NMH project will not affect the company in Poland, which is the second assembly line of the AW-149 in Europe.