Poland launches tender for assault helicopters

Poland on Tuesday launched a tender for assault helicopters as part of its 33.6 billion euro drive to upgrade its Soviet-era military equipment.

Analysts estimate the tender, which is open until August 1, to be worth nearly a billion euros ($1.4 billions) and said Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine had helped to accelerate the purchase.

The defence ministry did not specify the number of choppers it is planning to buy.

Likely contenders are Boeing with its Apache, Airbus with its Eurocopter Tiger and Anglo-Italian AgustaWestland with its AW-120 Mangusta.

The new contract comes on top of a tender launched in September 2013 for 70 multi-purpose helicopters worth an estimated 2.5 billion euros.

Companies seeking that deal -- believed to be the largest of its kind in Europe -- must guarantee they will build locally.

Both tenders are seen as a significant step in the Polish army's drive to replace 250 Soviet-era helicopters.

Overall, Warsaw is planning to spend 33.6 billion euros to upgrade its military equipment over ten years, including acquiring a national missile shield, armoured personnel carriers, submarines and drones.

Legislation in force since 2001 has fixed defence spending here at 1.95 percent of the gross domestic product.

President Bronislaw Komorowski recently proposed raising that to 2 percent of output amid the escalation of conflict in Ukraine.

A former Soviet satellite state of 38 million, Poland joined Nato in 1999 a decade after shedding communism. It acceded to the European Union in 2004.

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