Poland to Consider French Offers on Military Aircraft

Sputnik News

03:23 11.10.2016

Despite Poland's failed talks on purchase of 50 French Airbus Helicopters H225M Caracal, Warsaw will consider other French offers on buying military aircraft, Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said.

WARSAW (Sputnik) – On October 4, Poland's Development Ministry said that the negotiating positions of the two sides on the purchase of 50 Caracal helicopters for 13,5 billion zlotys ($3.5 billion) were rather different and further talks were pointless.

The decision to buy helicopters from Airbus was made by the previous government, led by the center-right, pro-European party Civic Platform, as part of plans to modernize the military sector. The original deal was highly criticized by trade unions in two Polish aviation plants. The conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government indicated it might cancel the deal after it won elections last year.

"Poland needs helicopters. And [even] in case the talks over this number [50] of multi-purpose helicopters are ended, Poland [still] needs helicopters of several types, so Caracal may be offered to Poland in other version and may be in fewer numbers," Waszczykowski told local TV in an interview on Monday.

Waszczykowski stressed, that the Polish-French agreement on helicopter purchase was not ruined and the talks ended "naturally", as the French offers did not meet Poland's requirements, namely, economic and security interests.

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