News
Sikorsky pulls out of bidding for Polish heli contract
November 3, 2014 By Reuters
Nov. 3, 2014, Stratford, Conn. - U.S. firm Sikorsky Aircraft Corp said it would not bid for a $3 billion contract to supply helicopters to Poland unless the terms of the tender were changed, effectively pulling out of the running.
The Polish Defence Ministry said in a
statement it saw Sikorsky's withdrawal as a negotiation tactic, an
allegation the U.S. firm denied. The ministry said it did not plan to
change the requirements of the tender.
Sikorsky, a unit of U.S. group United Technologies, had been competing with Airbus Group of France and AugustaWestland, owned by Italy's Finmeccanica, for a deal to supply 70 machines.
Sikorsky
said it would not submit an offer, together with its Polish consortium
partner PZL Mielec, because it would have been impossible to deliver its
Black Hawk helicopters according to the tender requirements.
Poland,
which has embarked on a $41 billion program to modernize its armed
forces by 2022, aims to increase defense spending to NATO's target of 2
percent of GDP in 2016, from 1.95 percent now.
