The Armament Agency, an organism under the Polish Ministry of Defense, announced that they have initiated a procedure for the purchase of S-70i Black Hawk helicopters from PZL Mielec.
As the Armament Agency posted on its Twitter account, an invitation to negotiate was sent today to PZL Mielec for the S-70i Black Hawk.
Uzupełniamy flotę śmigłowców o kolejne #BlackHawk. Już niebawem Wojsko Polskie będzie dysponowało pełną gamą śmigłowców – Black Hawk, AW149, AW101 i Apache. Szkolenia naszych żołnierzy na Apache w USA rozpoczną się jeszcze w tym roku, a pierwsze maszyny trafią do Polski w… https://t.co/cztAPhxJNE
— Mariusz Błaszczak (@mblaszczak) July 21, 2023
The Polish Minister of National Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak, also expressed himself on his social networks as follows: “We are replenishing the helicopter fleet with more BlackHawk. The Polish Army will soon have a full range of helicopters – Black Hawk, AW149, AW101 and Apache. Training of our soldiers on Apache in the US will begin later this year, and the first machines will arrive in Poland next year.”.
Although no details were given as to how many Black Hawks the Ministry of Defense will purchase, local media sources estimate that there could be more than 20 units.
S-70i Black Hawk
The S-70i Black Hawk is a Polish-exclusive export variant of the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter, produced by PZL Mielic, which has the largest Lockheed Martin-owned production facility located outside the United States. Since 2010, PZL Mielec has delivered 90 units in various configurations to customers in 10 countries (such as the Philippines).