Territorial Defence Forces
Helicopters for the Polish Special Forces. Negotiations with Three Bidders Underway
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The Armament Inspectorate of the Polish MoD has announced that negotiation began, concerning the acquisition of CSAR special purpose helicopters for the elements of the special forces, Moreover, the information released suggests that the procedure in question would involve all of the bidders who have placed their offers beforehand.
The Armament Inspectorate informs that, an assessment of the offers submitted within the No. IU/18/IX-35/ZS/NEGZKW/DOS/PPO/S/2017 procedure, concerning an order related to CSAR special purpose helicopters in a variant dedicated for the special operations component - CSAR OFF, took place. The organ begins negotiation with all of the bidders who have submitted the relevant documents.
The announcement concerning the negotiation proves that procurement process related to acquisition of 8 CSAR platforms has gone from the analysis phase, to a phase in which talks would be initiated, involving all of the invited bidders. The potential contractors include the following entities: consortium formed by PZL Sp. z o.o and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation; WSK PZL “Świdnik S.A.”, and another consortium, formed by Airbus Helicopters and Heli Invest Sp. z o.o. Services S.K.A.
The procurement procedure is carried out within a mode applicable to acquisitions that bear the basic meaning for national security. In the light of the above, the negotiation needs to be carried out in full secrecy. Up until the procedure ends, no detailed information can be released to the public. Moreover, the Polish Ministry of Defence has not even confirmed the types of helicopters offered by the individual entities.
According to the unofficial information, Airbus yet again proposes the H225M Caracal platform, meanwhile, PZL Mielec and SAC are inclined to offer the Black Hawk platform. PZL Świdnik confirmed that the offer placed includes AW101 Merlin aircraft, in a configuration similar to the Italian variant of the CSAR derivate of the above helicopter: HH-101A Caesar.