Romanian SMURD selects Black Hawk from PZL Mielec

On 7 May 2020, the announcement of a tender was published by the Romanian Unitatea Speciala de Aviatie / SMURD. The decision on this tender was made public on 17 September 2021.

The framework agreement should last four years and consists of a maximum of twelve helicopters. Eight will be designed to work on the mainland and four will be designed for operations over the sea. The helicopters must be capable for Search and Rescue (SAR), fire fighting tasks as well as capable of performing medical evacuation.

For this tender three companies did an offer, French Airbus Helicopters, Italian Leonardo and Polish PZL Mielec.

Airbus Helicopters offered eight helicopters but the SMURD wanted twelve helicopters. The Italians proposed twelve helicopters at a total cost of 299 million Euros which is almost 10% higher than the Polish PZL Mielic.

The entire contract has a value of 272,84 million Euros. The order includes the main four helicopters worth 93,5 million Euros and the rest will be purchased later. PZL Mielecs offer is the cheapest and next to this they also offered cooperation in the programme with local companies by involving Romaero.

Photo: PZL Mielec