Helicopters: For Warsaw, Airbus has killed the contract – Boursorama

The Polish minister of Defense Antoni Macierewicz in Warsaw, on September 15, 2016 ( AFP/Archives / WOJTEK RADWANSKI )

The Polish minister of Defense Antoni Macierewicz in Warsaw, on September 15, 2016 ( AFP/Archives / WOJTEK RADWANSKI )

“During the last stage (of negotiations of offset, ed), Airbus Helicopters has not presented a satisfactory proposal. He has not responded to the Polish position, and it is for this reason that the negotiations, the contract had to be stopped,” said Antoni Macierewicz at a press conference.

“I would like to be completely clear, this is not the Polish side who broke off the negotiations”, he added.

The break-up, Tuesday, on a contract for 50 helicopters multi-role Caracal Airbus, contract estimated by Paris at € 2.4 billion and Warsaw, to $ 3.1 billion, has cast a chill in relations franco-Polish president, François Hollande, referring to a planned visit to Warsaw on the 13th of October.

This contract was a breath of oxygen for the branch helicopter to Airbus, which is suffering for the past two years by the weakness of the market for oil and gas offshore because of lower prices.

The Poland alleges that Airbus does not have available compensations for industrial or “offset” of a sufficient value.

A photo released by Sirpa Air watch helicopter Caracal of Airbus during a fiscal year, on June 6, 2016 ( SIRPA/AFP/Archives / T. PAUDELEUX )

“I have taken note with regret of the position of Airbus Helicopters, which (…) has not met the proposals with poland, and related to the offset,” said the Polish minister.

According to Paris on the other hand, the industrial – in which the French State is a shareholder – has been “extremely far in its” aligning “offset” equivalent to 100% of the contract amount, never seen before in this type of negotiations, has underlined a source close to the folder.

The difference estimate was “several billion zlotys. The Polish government could not accept such a gap”, said the vice-minister of Defense Bartosz Kownacki at this press conference.

It has also been said that the French party had suggested that there could be delays in the deliveries of machines.

“We have repeatedly emphasized that the time factor was important to us (…) The French party has informed us that she could have problems to deliver these helicopters to the date originally scheduled. We could not continue indefinitely this procedure, there was no chance of finding an agreement”, he explained.

the minister of Defence stated that Poland would seek to buy “as quickly as possible” the new helicopters multi-role but does not specify if the government would go for a new call for tenders or direct negotiations with a manufacturer. “The matter is urgent”, he said.

The new procedure for the acquisition (…) “will be open to all the builders”, he stressed.

Since coming to power in November 2015, the Polish government conservative has challenged the choice of the liberal team earlier in favor of Airbus, on behalf of the defence factories, the Polish of its competitors, the american Lockheed Martin and AgustaWestland, a division of the Italian group Leonardo-Finmeccanica.

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