The Armament Inspectorate, which acts on behalf of the Polish Ministry of Defense (MoD), officially launched a tender for procurement of 32 light, multirole helicopters. New rotorcrafts will be acquired under the ‘Perkoz’ programme.

The Armament Inspectorate, which acts on behalf of the Polish Ministry of Defense (MoD), officially launched a tender for procurement of 32 light, multirole helicopters / Picture: Michal Adamowski

The Armament Inspectorate, which acts on behalf of the Polish Ministry of Defense (MoD), officially launched a tender for procurement of 32 light, multirole helicopters / Picture: Michal Adamowski

According to the statement made by the Armament Inspectorate, new helicopters will be procured in three variants: direct fire support, command, observation / reconnaissance. They will have the transport capacity of up 1000 kg of cargo or 5 soldiers in full gear.

New multirole helicopters will replace currently operated legacy Mi-2s, which entered service over 50 years ago. Their further use is might prove to be impractical and hazardous.

The decision to launch the ‘Perkoz’ programme means that the planned modernization of W-3WA Sokol helicopters probably won’t take place. Acquisition of new light multirole helicopters might also delay the planned acquisition of modern attack helicopters, which were to replace currently operated Mi-24D/W rotorcrafts (Bell and PGZ declares next step of the cooperation, 2020-02-06).