Poland cancel/delay EC725 Caracal heli procurement

Well, France are in a bit of a tiff that Poland has apparently delayed, or cancelled the procurement of a 50 military helicopters.

The original competition for military multi-role helicopters goes back a couple of years and it saw Poland select the EC725 Caracal (of the current controversy), over the Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk and Agusta Westland AW149.

This "tiff" may be as a result of strains in the EU following BREXIT, as EU nations jokey for influence over the EUs future without the UK, who had previously constrained and neutralised France and Germany. France's dialogue towards Poland has been rather patronising and unconstructive of late.

Poland halted talks with French company Airbus to buy 50 of its Caracal helicopters for around 3.14bn euros (£2.8bn / $3.51bn) on Tuesday.

Source BBC, but also reported elsewhere

Just wonder what other European military projects are on the brink of collapse. Cannot see the collaboration between the UK and France on the European UCAV (combined BAE Taranis and the Dassault nEUROn) lasting very long, although perhaps just long enough for the French to plunder the BAE secrets. Am I getting cynical?

a reply to: paraphi

The EC725 is based off the Super Puma family, which have proven to be a disaster. The Civil version has had several high profile groundings after oil field crashes caused by mechanical issues, including an ongoing grounding caused by gearbox issues. Now South Korea has found they have to redesign portions of their version after environmental testing showed icing and heat related problems.