Leonardo The first of four AW101s ordered for the Polish Navy made its maiden flight at the Leonardo UK site at Yeovil in July 2021.
operations and target acquisition with the use of onboard ship radar systems. The new maritime helicopters will be subordinate to the Naval Aviation Brigade of the Polish Navy. Nine manufacturers have signalled their intention to participate in the TDP including four local Polish companies and five foreign manufacturers. Bell is offering its 412 model while Leonardo’s PZL-Świdnik is pitching the AW159 Wildcat. Leonardo with PZL-Świdnik already has successfully competed for a Polish Navy contract for the replacement of six Soviet-era Mil Mi-14L/PS. In April 2019, the company announced it would supply four AW101s and a comprehensive integrated logistics and training package worth $430 million to the Polish MND. PZL-Świdnik is acting as prime contractor while the team assembling the aircraft is at Leonardo in Yeovil, UK. The first production AW101 aircraft for the Polish Navy achieved its first flight at the company’s site in Yeovil on 20 July 2021. The flight demonstrated functional checks of the main airframe systems as well as the control system, and engine-handling checks were taken throughout to monitor the speed range of the aircraft. The flight envelope will now be opened further with testing exploring the bespoke mission equipment fitted to the aircraft. The AW101 will perform a range of missions for the Polish Navy including ASW and Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR), with aircraft deliveries scheduled by the end of 2022. In December 2018 Airbus had announced its decision to withdraw from the Polish MND’s tender to acquire new helicopters to replace the Navy’s Mi-14s. The company said that again the offset
requirements defined by the Polish MND made it impossible for Airbus to submit a competitive offer, but that it continued to be interested in supporting the process of the modernisation of the Polish Armed Forces in the field of helicopter fleet replacement. In another sector of the Polish Armed Forces modernisation campaign, the MND announced in March 2018 that another much delayed programme codenamed Gryf for a medium-range tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was to involve the delivery of six systems, each with four UAVs and a control station between 2020 and 2022. Another six systems could be procured in the unspecified future. Competitors were expected to include Elbit Systems’ Hermes 900 and General Atomics’ MQ-9 Reaper but in a surprise move, the Polish MND signed a contract with the Turkish company Baykar OEM in May 2021 to purchase four Bayraktar TB-2 combat systems, which include 24 UAVs, for approximately $270 million, with the first system to be delivered in 2022. Poland has become the first buyer of Turkish-made UAVs within NATO. Under the Albatros programme to provide a tactical short-range maritime VTOL UAV for the Polish Navy, the Armament Inspectorate announced six bidders: UMS Skeldar, WB Electronics, PZL-Świdnik with Leonardo, Schiebel, WORKS 11 with Martin UAV, and Siltec. The bids had to be submitted by 29 January 2021 with the delivery of a system within 15 months. Earlier this year it was reported that Poland has managed to avoid the same level of economic damage experienced in other European countries during the pandemic and this may fast track some of the Polish Armed Forces’ delayed aircraft programmes that must be resolved in the near future. september 2021 - armadainternational.com
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