On Friday, January 17, 2025, the Polish Armament Agency published information on the bid opening for the Albatros short-range shipborne unmanned rotorcraft program. The military intends to purchase one system, with an option for an additional unit.
Camcopter S-100 / Photo: Schiebel Elektronische Geräte
The budget for the procurement is 42,000,000 PLN. The only bid was submitted by the Austrian company Schiebel Elektronische Geräte, but the offer far exceeds the expected costs, amounting to 321,033,172.95 PLN net (394,870,802.73 PLN gross). The contractor committed to completing the order within 15 months from the contract signing date and provided a 24-month warranty.
The procurement of UAVs under the codename Albatros was included in the Operational Program: Image and Satellite Reconnaissance as part of the Technical Modernization Plan (PMT) of the Polish Armed Forces for 2017-2022. As part of the analytical and conceptual phase, launched in April 2016, and the technical dialogue held on July 25 of the same year, the plan initially envisioned the acquisition of four UAV systems between 2019 and 2020.
The procurement process for the delivery of one system (with an option for a second) was initiated by the then Armament Inspectorate of the Ministry of National Defense (now the Armament Agency) on December 15, 2020. The UAVs, with a maximum takeoff weight of 200 kg, are intended for day and night reconnaissance in various environments, including: enemy force reconnaissance over the sea and coastline, land-based surveillance, search and rescue operations at sea, using electro-optical sensors as well as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for enhanced detection capabilities.
Then, according to information obtained by MILMAG Magazine on March 19, 2021, applications for participation in the procurement process were submitted by: the Swedish-Swiss joint venture UMS Skeldar (a partnership between UMS AERO Group and Saab Defence and Security), WB Electronics (part of WB Group), PZL-Świdnik together with the Italian company Leonardo, Austrian group Schiebel, and Katowice-based Works 11, in cooperation with American company Martin UAV and Pruszków-based company Siltec. Later, on July 10, 2021, MILMAG learned that only Schiebel Elektronische Geräte and Poland’s WB Electronics (WB Group) were invited to submit offers.
On December 30, 2021, the then spokesperson for the Armament Inspectorate of the Ministry of National Defense, Major Krzysztof Płatek, stated on social media that only one bidder remained in the program—Schiebel Elektronische Geräte. However, since then, no further updates have been provided on the matter.
Since the submitted bid exceeds the budget nearly tenfold, it will be canceled in accordance with applicable regulations.