Black Hawks for the Polish Special Forces
(Source: Defense-Aerospace.com; posted Oct 11, 2016)
(Defense24.com Poland contributed to this report)
Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz stands before a Black Hawk helicopter at the PZL Mielec factory, where he announced an initial order for the aircraft. Delivery by the end of the year, however, means they will be bought off-the-shelf, with no Polish input. (Defense24 photo)
In a joint press conference held with the Polish Prime Minister, Beata Szydlo, Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz announced that the first examples of the Black Hawk helicopters will be received by the Polish Army by the end of this year.
Coming less than a week after Poland abruptly called off talks to buy the competing Airbus Caracal, this announcement confirms what many observers believe: that the Polish government had long decided to buy the Black Hawk, and was looking for a pretext to end the Airbus talks which it has allowed to drag on inconclusively for nearly a year.
Szydlo said that the factory that produces Black Hawks, while foreign, employs several thousand Poles and pays taxes in Poland, and that buying those helicopters would be an act of “economic patriotism,” Associated Press reported Oct 10. “It’s important that the military have Polish equipment made by Polish workers,” Szydlo said.
The helicopters will be delivered to the special operations component of the Polish Army. The rapid procurement will make it possible to ensure that the operational needs of the Polish Army are met, and also allow budget funds allocated to this fiscal year to be spent, Macierewicz said.
Obviously, these helicopters will have to be bought off-the-shelf from Sikorsky to enter service by year-end, and thus will provide no work for Polish factories. They also will provide no offsets to compensate for the expenditure, contrary to what Polish authorities had demanded from the three bidders for the helicopter tender, and also contrary to their stated reasons for pulling out of offset talks for the purchase of 50 Airbus EC725/ H225M Caracal.
It also is unclear, given that the S-70 Black Hawk had been eliminated from the previous competition as technically non-compliant, whether this purchase conforms to Polish acquisition rules and to European public tender law. “Economic patriotism,” for example, is expressly forbidden by European Union regulations.
In either case, it could provide Airbus with an opportunity to mount a legal challenge to its eviction, should it so decide.
Airbus on Oct 11 reacted forcefully to Polish government statements on the Caracal acquisition. In an open letter to the Polish Prime Minister, Airbus Helicopter CEO Guillaume Faury refuted “a number of misleading allegations reported in the media,” and detailed hos company’s offset proposals in great detail.
Noting that on September 30th, just four days before Ministry of Development’s decision to break off talks, “Airbus Helicopters accepted to extend the validity of its offer at the request of the Ministry of Defence until November 30th,” Airbus said that it had even agreed to offset Poland’s 23% value-added tax, something that is virtually unheard-of in international offsets.
Macierewicz assured that relevant talks pertaining to the prospective procurement are going to begin this week, while the corresponding agreement is expected to be signed by the end of the year. The deliveries are also going to begin before the end of 2016. Most probably, the Polish government is considering acquisition of no more than ten helicopters.
The special forces urgently need to establish a proper level of operational capabilities, as the Polish 7th Special Operations Squadron currently operates Mi-17 helicopters which only partially meet the stated requirements. Also, the quantity of the helicopters that are in service is too low. Minister Macierewicz made a statement referring to the Black Hawk helicopters during his visit to the PZL Mielec facility, where the joint press conference with the Prime Minister was held.
Polish Prime Minister stated that the government is willing to restore the Polish industrial capabilities and use Polish technological potential. At the same time, she stressed the fact that the steps taken jointly at PZL Mielec form a good example of collaboration with the foreign investor. The government assumes that modern armament and military hardware will be purchased from Polish factories manufacturing such products.
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Defence Ministry Press Conference
(Source: Poland Ministry of National Defence; issued Oct 10, 2016)
On Saturday, at Defence Ministry Headquarters in Warsaw, Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz held a press conference, along with other participants including the Secretary of State in the Defence Ministry, Bartosz Kownacki and the Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Economic Development, Radosław Domagalski-Łabędzki, devoted to the ending of negotiations with Airbus Helicopters.
“We will seek to resolve the problem as soon as possible from the point of view of the needs of the Polish Armed Forces and the Polish armaments industry, with a view on the conclusion of agreements that will allow the equipping of the Polish Armed Forces as soon as possible with necessary multi-role helicopters and to provide Polish industry with the ability of benefiting from new technologies,” said Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz during the press conference devoted to the acquisition of helicopters for the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland.
The head of the Defence Ministry announced during the meeting with journalists, that all parties involved in the proceedings for the purchase of multi-role helicopters, were aware that in order to come to an agreement, it was necessary for the Polish side to approve the terms of the offsets, which was emphasized in all diplomatic talks. The offset component is a part of the contract, and without it the contract may not be concluded. However, the offset offer presented by the French contractor has proven to be insufficient to protect the economic interest and the security of the Republic of Poland.
“I would like to clearly point out, that in no dimension of this present situation will this reflect negatively on Polish defense capabilities. Anyway, soon we will seek to obtain the necessary number of helicopters. I would like to certainly point out, that this will not reflect negatively on the industrial and employment aspects of any Polish production facility, and in particular on the Military Aviation Works No.1 (Polish acronym: WZL–1) facility in Łódź”, added Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz.
As Deputy Defence Minister Bartosz Kownacki reminded, “We have repeatedly stressed that we are time-sensitive and intend to be recipients of operational helicopters. The French side informed us, however, that it may have problems with the delivery deadline of these helicopters. We could not therefore indefinitely prolong the proceedings, if there was to be no chance of finding an agreement.” Defence Minister Kownacki stressed also that “no company in Poland due to the current situation will lose out. In each and every case, we will always take into account the safety and economic interests of the Polish State,” he stressed and added that “Airbus Helicopters and other French companies are invited to participate in future tenders.”
Deputy Minister of the Economic Development Radosław Domagalski-Łabędzki recalled that the offset negotiations lasted nearly a year and that it was not true that Airbus Helicopters has learned about the ending of negotiations from the media. “Differences in the negotiations were very serious and closure needed to occur, because there was virtually no chance of arriving at a compromise,” summed up the Deputy Minister.
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Statement of the Ministry of Economic Development
(Source: Poland Ministry of Economic Development; issued Oct 10, 2016)
During the year-long period of negotiations, the Polish side has shown full openness and willingness to develop solutions that are acceptable to both parties. For the Polish Government, an absolute priority is to ensure the security of the State and to ensure conditions for the development of the Polish defense industry. This was the primary determinant of consistent actions by the Government negotiating team and determined its bargaining position during the talks.
Responsibility for the issues related to the security the Polish State and its citizens, where differences in negotiating positions of both parties (without ill-will by any side) prevented the reaching of a compromise solution, led to the recognition that the continuation of the talks is irrelevant. The consequence was, therefore, to end—not break—the negotiations.
Poland was very flexible and demonstrated full openness and willingness to develop solutions that would be acceptable by both parties. We studied very carefully all proposals of offset obligations made by Airbus Helicopters. However, they did not meet the criteria of economic interest. Poland also presented many of its own proposals, which were not accepted by the contractor.
Offset contractual negotiations began on 30 September 2015 after the decision taken by the Ministry of National Defence on the tender for the supply of multi-role helicopters for the Polish Armed Forces.
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