A handful of competitors have emerged to try to fulfil Poland’s nascent requirement for 30 attack helicopters to replace its army’s fleet of aged Mil Mi-24s.
Speaking at a press conference on 4 November, Czeslaw Mroczek, deputy minister of national defence, said that Airbus Helicopters – in partnership with local firm Heli Invest Services – will offer the Tiger, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) is proposing its T129 ATAK and Bell Helicopter is to bid the AH-1Z Viper.
In addition, Polish security electronics provider BIT has indicated its participation in the programme, although its role is unknown.
Boeing has previously shown interest in offering its AH-64E Apache to Warsaw, and Mroczek points out that the list of potential bidders is not yet finalised.
The US-based airframer could establish a local assembly line for the Apache if required by the tender. Last month, Boeing officials visited Poland and were involved in talks with around 30 potential partners.
Project Raven, as the programme has been called, is presently in the technical evaluation stage, with more in-depth requirements due to be published in mid-2015, leading to the release of a request for proposals in the autumn.
Although AgustaWestland is not listed among the interested parties, it has always stressed that TAI would be the prime contractor on any export effort for the T129, which is derived from its AW129 Mangusta.
As such, this opens the way for work, including potentially final assembly, to be carried out by AgustaWestland’s Polish subsidiary PZL-Swidnik.
Warsaw is simultaneously acquiring 70 new multirole helicopters to equip all three branches of its armed forces, with Airbus Helicopters and AgustaWestland the frontrunners for the deal.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
