Poland to ink deal for anti-submarine helicopters
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
08.04.2019 15:22
Poland will sign a deal later this month to buy four Navy helicopters capable of combating submarines, Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said on Monday.
Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak (right)
Photo: PAP/Artur Reszko
The Merlin AW101 helicopters are also expected to be capable of carrying out search and rescue operations in combat conditions.
The British-Italian machines are produced by the Leonardo group, which owns Poland-based helicopter manufacturer PZL Świdnik.
Błaszczak announced the upcoming deal for the four AW101s after he on Monday signed a nearly PLN 400 million offset agreement accompanying the purchase.
The offset was a condition for concluding the main contract, state news agency PAP reported.
In January, the Polish government signed a multi-million deal to buy a first batch of four Black Hawk helicopters for the country’s armed forces from PZL Mielec, a Poland-based aviation producer owned by US defence giant Lockheed Martin.
The choppers supplied by PZL Mielec will be used by troops including Poland’s GROM special forces unit, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported at the time.
(pk/gs)
Source: PAP/IAR