NATO Ally Scraps Purchase of US Black Hawk Helicopters
Poland has scrapped plans to buy more S-70i Black Hawk helicopters as Warsaw rethinks its strategy for fighting a battle-hardened Russia pouring massive investment into its military.
Poland has become a military powerhouse, leading the NATO alliance on defense spending.
The country, which is situated on NATO's eastern flank, has felt the reverberations of more than three years of war in Ukraine, repeatedly scrambling fighter jets in response to intensive Russian airstrikes on parts of western Ukraine. Warsaw has been one of Kyiv's most strident supporters.
NATO officials, particularly those from country's forming NATO's eastern edge, have increasingly warned Moscow could mount an attack against the alliance in the coming years, particularly if the U.S. succeeds in brokering a ceasefire in Ukraine.
The Polish military changed its "priorities" for its upcoming purchases after "intensive" analysis, said General Wiesław Kukuła, the Chief of the General Staff for the Polish armed forces.
"The aim of these changes is to better adapt to the challenges of the future battlefield," Kukuła told reporters on Friday.
Warsaw will prioritize training and combat helicopters, as well as multi-use helicopters able to land on ships, heavy transport helicopters for the country's land forces and search and rescue aircraft, Kukuła added.
Poland may look at buying other equipment, like drones or tanks, rather than the S-70i multirole helicopter, Grzegorz Polak, a spokesperson for the Polish Armament Agency, told Reuters.
The war in Ukraine has spurred on drone advancement at astonishing speeds, while both sides have still relied heavily on the use of tanks and armored vehicles.
Poland's previous government said in mid-2023 it was starting the process to buy more Black Hawk helicopters from PZL Mielec, a Polish branch of Lockheed Martin.
Secretary of State for Poland's Ministry of National Defense Paweł Bejda said reports that a contract for the Black Hawk helicopters had been "canceled" were false, but the country's Armament Agency had decided to "terminate the procurement process."
Kukuła pointed on Friday to the Polish purchase of 32 next-generation F-35 fighter jets and tens of advanced Apache helicopters that would soon "land on Polish soil" as part of preparations for the "future battlefield."
Paweł Bejda, Secretary of State for Poland's Ministry of National Defense, said during a press conference on Friday: "The geopolitical situation, the situation in the east—the war in Ukraine, what Russia is currently buying, equipping its army—and everything that our air forces are carrying out during tasks connected to the NATO system, is being analyzed."
Brigadier General Artur Kuptel, the head of Poland's Armaments Agency, told the media: "The priorities we have heard about today will give light for the coming days, for the coming months, in terms of the directions of activities in the area of helicopter aviation."
Poland ordered nearly 100 AH-64E advanced Apache helicopters from Boeing in mid-2024, which the aerospace giant said would "strengthen Poland's operational capability and interoperability with the U.S., NATO and allied nations."
Warsaw is expected to receive its first F-35 fifth-generation fighter jets from the U.S. next year.
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