Offset Millions from AgustaWestland

Offset Millions from AgustaWestland
2015-02-13 11:14:36
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British-Italian helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, which is seeking to win a tender to supply 70 multiplerole helicopters for Poland’s armed forces, has signed memoranda of understanding on offset contracts worth
800 million euros with four key Polish defense industry companies.
British-Italian helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, which is seeking to win a tender to supply 70 multiplerole helicopters for Poland’s armed forces, has signed memoranda of understanding on offset contracts worth
800 million euros with four key Polish defense industry companies.
AgustaWestland, which owns Polish helicopter factory PZL-Świdnik in the eastern town of Świdnik, in December
signed the agreements with four companies that are part of the Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa armaments group:
Fabryka Broni Radom, a munitions producer in the central city of Radom; military aviation plants Wojskowe
Zakłady Lotnicze nr. 1 in Łódź and Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze nr. 2 in Bydgoszcz, and ZM Tarnów in the
southern city of Tarnów.
Other companies bidding for the tender to supply multiple-role helicopters to the Polish armed forces are
American giant Sikorsky, which has a factory in Mielec, southeastern Poland, and Airbus Helicopters from France,
which is planning to build a plant in Poland.
If the AW149 helicopter offered by AgustaWestland is selected, the company says it will create a global center
for the production and development of this modern machine at Świdnik that will not only meet the needs of the
Polish armed forces, but also provide opportunities to export the AW149 worldwide. This could create over 2,000
new jobs, the company says.
The AW149 is a new machine that took to the skies for the first time in 2009. Its selling points include a
composite fuselage.
So far, PZL-Świdnik, which has nearly 3,500 employees, including almost 630 engineers, has produced more
than 7,400 helicopters for customers in more than 40 countries around the world. PZL-Świdnik is one of the
largest companies in the Polish aviation sector and its chain of suppliers covers 900 Polish companies operating
across the country.
The Świdnik plant is a major supplier of helicopters for the Polish armed forces. Nearly 160 helicopters produced
at PZL-Świdnik are currently used by the Polish armed forces. These include the Sokół, Anakonda, Puszczyk and
Mi-2 models as well as the most modern combat version of the Sokół—the W-3PL Głuszec helicopter. Almost 80
percent of the helicopters delivered to the Polish armed forces over the past 10 years are machines
manufactured at Świdnik. The remaining 20 percent are Russian-produced helicopters.
Source: The Warsaw Voice.
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