English Section

Poland cancels tender for 32 Black Hawk helicopters

06.06.2025 15:30
Poland’s Armament Agency has annulled a tender for 32 S-70i Black Hawk helicopters from Lockheed Martin’s PZL Mielec plant after military planners pushed the program down this year’s priority list, an agency spokesman said on Friday.
A Black Hawk helicopter.
A Black Hawk helicopter.Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Jakub Hałun

“In the current geopolitical environment we must focus on the tasks with the highest priority for the armed forces,” Lt. Col. Grzegorz Polak told Polish state news agency PAP, adding that the cancellation followed “a significant change of circumstances that could not have been foreseen.”

The decision was made at the end of May, he said, under rules allowing the state buyer to halt procurement that is no longer deemed in the public interest.

“If the General Staff later identifies a renewed need, the agency will restart the process,” Polak added.

Price and equipment questions

Public broadcaster Polish Radio, which first reported the move, said Mielec had not offered a price-and-equipment package that met the army’s conditions.

Polak declined to comment on commercial details.

The export-configured S-70i is a variant of the UH-60 Black Hawk built under license in southeastern Poland.

The factory has delivered eight aircraft to Polish special-forces units since 2019 and five to the national police.

The canceled order was intended for the land forces’ aviation brigade, where the Black Hawks would have operated alongside 96 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters ordered last year from the United States.

Dynamic planning

Polak said equipment purchases are governed by Central Materiel Plans drawn up by the General Staff and updated as threats evolve.

“Like any plan, it can be revised,” he noted, pointing to budget and operational trade-offs imposed by Russia’s war in neighboring Ukraine and other modernization projects.

Defense analysts said Warsaw may now channel funds toward air defense systems, drones and additional ammunition stocks.

Poland spent 4.2 percent of GDP on defense in 2024, a figure that is expected to rise to 4.7 percent in 2025, making the country NATO's top spender measured as a share of its economy.

(jh)

Source: IAR, PAP