New Whirlybirds

The Warsaw Voice ^ | 2 March 2005

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The Ministry of Defense has decided to equip the Polish army with new tactical transport helicopters (TTH). Initially, the Ministry would like to purchase 40 TTHs, which are much larger than the multi-purpose helicopters W3 Sokó³ produced in Poland at PZL Œwidnik. The contract will be put out to tender and one of the most important requirements will be to locate production of the aircraft in Poland. The new helicopters will gradually replace the well-worn Russian-produced Mi-8 and Mi-17. A contract for the delivery of two of the six helicopters for VIPs will be signed before the end of the year.

Tenderers ready to relocate a major part of production to Polish plants, especially those which want to exploit the potential of PZL Œwidnik, the only helicopter producer in this part of Europe, will have a much greater chance of winning the contract for the delivery of TTHs for the Polish armed forces.

The army needs various versions of new helicopter, including helicopters with weapons and equipment used in naval, search and rescue, and evacuation operations. It will take a year to prepare the tender and award the contract.

The Ministry of Defense wants to offer an equal chance to producers from both America and Europe. According to unofficial sources, the list of most likely winners includes the Eurocopter NH 90, the three-engine EH 101 manufactured by Italian Agusta Westland, and the U.S.-produced S-92 Sikorsky. The price of one aircraft of this type is around $15 million. Also taken into consideration are the much cheaper Russian-produced helicopters equipped with Western avionics, Mi-171 and Mi-172.

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S-92 Sikorsky (American)







Agusta Westland EH 101 (British-Italian)







Eurocopter NH 90 ("European" French-German-Dutch-Italian)

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Eastern European ping list

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ping.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

...one of the most important requirements will be to locate production of the aircraft in Poland.

Is that close to China?

[Lukasz]

Eurocopter? Now everything is "euro". LOL

[SAMWolf]

Buy ours, we need the jobs. :-)

[sukhoi-30mki]

Well the S-92 appears to be a good system & has won it's fair share of orders(including recently from Qatar & Turkey)-but why should the Poles show concern for American jobs,when the US president himself opts for the EH-101!!!!!!

[sukhoi-30mki]

My personal favourites for this contract would have to be the EH-101 & the Mi-17.The Merlin seems to have got a good reputation of late & being designed for both the maritime/tactical transport roles,it is a versatile system(Im not sure of it's weapons carrying capability,though).The MI-17 is a proven system & It's only drawback appears to be that russians haven't used it much in a maritime role.The Indian airforce's new Mi-17Vs have Israeli avionics & countermeasures along with a new ramp for unloading the Vikhr laser guided missile.

[SAMWolf]

Touche! ;-)

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"Buy ours, we need the jobs. :-)"

Don't foget that 2.5 of them are produced by allies.





US government has ordered 23 US 101 (version of EH 101) for the Presidential squadron. EH 101 has 3 engines, so is very safe - I think that this fact was important in this case. I read that anyway most of them will be built in Texas.

On the other hand S-92 won for example the contract in Canada - 28 S-92 will replace Sea King's in the Canadian Navy.

All of them are very good. In my opinion EH 101 is the best, but Sikorsky is a more poweful company and I think that they may offer better financial conditions.
I think that both EH 101 and S-92 have about 37.5% chance to win this contract, NH 90 - 20% and Mi-17 - 5%.

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I will start thinking about emigration If I see European Vodka in our stores.

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http://www.teamus101.com/index.cfm