On Wednesday, March 4, 2026, the Polish Air Ambulance Service (LPR) announced the launch of a competitive tender procedure for the purchase of factory-new, identical rescue helicopters.
Photos: Michał Adamowski, MILMAG
The deadline for submitting applications to participate in the procedure is April 20, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. The selection criteria will be price (81%) and non-price qualitative criteria – technical, operational, and functional (19%). The contract will remain in force for 28 months from the date of signing.
According to the description of the contract, the helicopters must:
- be factory-new, with flight hours not exceeding 20 hours;
- be equipped with dust protection filters;
- be approved and equipped for day and night VFR flights, HEMS and HHO operations, including NVIS operations (night-vision goggles themselves are not required to be delivered, but the helicopters must be certified for their use; the supplier must deliver 20 flight helmets);
- be equipped and certified for Single- and Dual-Pilot IFR operations;
- be equipped and certified to perform the following instrument approaches:
- conventional: ILS CAT I, ILS/DME, VOR, VOR/DME;
- RNAV5 and RNP2 for en-route navigation;
- RNAV1 and RNP1 for en-route, terminal, STAR, and initial approach (IAF);
- RNP-AR 0.1 for missed approach (MAP) and departure procedures;
- meet the following dimensional limits compatible with the infrastructure of 24-hour HEMS bases:
- main rotor diameter no greater than 11.7 m;
- helicopter height no greater than 4.05 m;
- helicopter length with rotors turning no greater than 13.8 m;
- ensure a minimum vertical clearance of 2.2 m between the lowest point of the rotor disk and the ground when standing freely (including at zero rotor speed);
- allow a HEMS mission with four persons onboard: one pilot, two medical crew members, and one patient (approx. 100 kg per person), with full equipment and medical mounting systems, the hoist removed, and landing configuration for soft ground, including 120 kg of medical equipment;
- be equipped with all necessary elements enabling the installation and operation of a left-side electric rescue hoist with a cable of at least 85 m and a lifting capacity of at least 270 kg;
- feature skid landing gear;
- include glass cockpit avionics;
- include at least two cameras providing views beneath the helicopter and to the rear;
- be equipped with weather radar, communication and navigation systems with national maps, and other required equipment.
It is worth recalling that on May 15, 2025, during the 25th anniversary gala of the Polish Air Ambulance Service held in Warsaw, then Minister of Health Izabela Leszczyna announced a plan to procure five new HEMS helicopters. This followed a competition launched on February 19, 2025, for funding medical entities under an investment program supporting the activities of Helicopter Emergency Medical Service teams through the purchase of factory-new rescue helicopters. As early as 2021, the then leadership of the Ministry of Health had already pointed to the need to purchase six additional rescue helicopters, but no funding was allocated at that time.
The tender is being conducted by the Public Procurement Department under the Minister of Health. The procurement is implemented in accordance with Resolution No. 173 of the Council of Ministers of August 16, 2022, establishing the investment program titled Investment Program for the Modernization of Healthcare Entities financed from the Medical Fund.
The new rotorcraft will supplement the current fleet of 27 rescue helicopters of the type Airbus H135 (formerly Eurocopter EC135), including 23 in the P2+ version and 4 in the P3 version, as well as one flight simulator, delivered in 2009–2010 (P2+) and 2015 (P3).
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