The conclusions of the war in Ukraine and the analysis of technological improvement led the Polish Army planners to change the priorities of the chopper improvement program. The consequence is, among others, the cancellation of proceedings for the acquisition of S-70i Black Hawk machines. On the list of the most urgent needs of the army are now school-bottle helicopters and deck helicopters, dense transport and rescue machines.
On 23 May 2025, the Armed Forces Agency notified PZL Mielec to cancel the public procurement procedure for the supply of multi-purpose S-70i support helicopters. In its justification, AU referred to a paragraph which states that ‘the ordering organization invalidates the procedure if there has been a material change in circumstances causing the conduct of the procedure or performance of the contract to be not in the public interest, which could not have been anticipated beforehand’.
“The Armed Forces Agency acquires military equipment in accordance with central in-kind plans that are changing due to the changing geopolitical situation and threats in the areas concerned”, commented Colonel Grzegorz Polak, Press spokesperson of the Armed Forces Agency. The officer emphasized that these plans are adapted to the current needs of the Polish Army.
There was a press conference on Friday afternoon. It was attended by Paweł Bejda, Deputy Minister of Defence liable for method modernisation programmes, Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, Head of the General Staff of the Polish Army, Brig. Gen. Artur Kuptel, Head of the Armed Forces Agency, and Maj. General Cezary Wiśniewski, Deputy Commander-General of the types of armed forces.
– The geopolitical situation, the situation in the east, the war in Ukraine, what Russia is presently buying, equipping its troops, and all that our air force is carrying out during tasks embedded in the NATO system, is being analysed by the General Staff, our pilots and specialists and experts," said Paweł Bejda. The conclusions of this analysis serve, among others, to update plans for the improvement of the Polish Army and list of purchasing needs. specified a process has besides been subjected to a programme of improvement of chopper troops, and the consequence is the cancellation of proceedings for the acquisition of S-70i machines.
– In the course of our analyses, we changed the priorities for the improvement and usage of helicopters. The aim of these changes is to better match the challenges of the future battlefield," said Gen. Kukuła. According to the Chief of the General Staff, now at the top of the helicopter's list of priorities are school-fighting, on-board, dense transport helicopters and search and rescue helicopters. – We must prepare the personnel for the planned entry into chopper service AW-149 and Apache said the General. On the another hand, Deputy Minister Bejda added that today's amendments to the chopper program do not include modification of contracts for the transportation of both types of machinery.
– all taxpayer's gold is utilized responsibly by us – provided the Secretary of State in the MON. “I want to warrant you that, as the Armed Forces Agency, as the Ministry of National Defence, civilian surveillance, we will implement primarily what the military, the General Staff, experts and specialists are telling us. We're just putting what was on our heads back on our feet. We clean up a buying mess that was created behind the erstwhile government – explained the Deputy Minister.
Conversations on the acquisition of 32 S-70i Black Hawk global helicopters have been conducted with PZL Mielec since 2023. The machines were expected to go to the aeromobile troops. Previously, the military picked up 8 of those helicopters that were equipped. GROM Military Unit Air Force Team. The last 2 S-70i centrifuges reached the specialists in late 2024.
