Daniele Romiti, chief executive of AgustaWestland, is standing by its decision to launch legal action challenging the Polish defence ministry’s decision to award a 50-unit rotorcraft order to its European rival, Airbus Helicopters.
AgustaWestland, in conjunction with its Polish subsidiary, PZL Swidnik, had offered its new AW149 for the tri-service contest, but lost out to the H225M Caracal. On 19 June, PZL Swidnik announced that it had started court action in a bid to get the award overturned.
Romiti says its proposal – which also promised to make PZL Swidnik the lead facility for AW149 development – was the only one to offer a new-generation helicopter.
“Investing in old platforms does not make sense in the long term,” he says.
Romiti points to the recent launch by Airbus Helicopters of its X6 programme, destined as a future replacement for the H225M, as something that strengthens its argument.
“It is quite enough to say that as soon as a competitor made the announcement of renewing the model that was offered to the Polish, it was [clear] that what was offered was pretty old.”
Although he says it is too early to “jump to conclusions” about the future of PZL Swidnik, Romiti acknowledges that if Poland does not have a change of heart, “we will have to revise our strategy there”.
“Maybe we will have to resize and refocus the mission of Swidnik. If the local ministry of defence customer does not need our products, there is no point in keeping the ability to design new platforms.”
However, Romiti stresses the importance of the facility as a centre of component manufacture, which could be its future in the longer term.
AgustaWestland has yet to secure a customer for the 8.3t AW149. However, Romiti remains confident that it will eventually win orders.
It remains under evaluation by the Italian air force, which is helping to refine the performance of the twin-engined type.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
