China to Buy 150 Helicopters From Poland

A.V.

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WARSAW - China will buy 150 helicopters from Poland's PZL Swidnik over 10 years under an agreement signed between the Polish aircraft firm and China's Jiujiang aeronautics plant, PZL Swidnik confirmed Feb. 27.

"It is a framework agreement for co-operation over a decade. We will deliver three types of helicopters: PZL Sokol, PZL Kania and SW-4, according to orders that will be specified on a yearly basis," PZL Swidnik spokesman Jan Mazur told AFP.

A standard version PZL Sokol helicopter costs $ 4 million dollars (2.6 million euros), while a SW-4 costs less than a million dollars.

"We also intend to assemble our PZL Sokol machines in China," Mazur said, but declined to provide further details.

According to Poland's Rzeczpospolita daily, PZL's Chinese partner is preparing the ground for the assembly plant.

Poland's State Treasury controls 87 percent of the PZL Swidnik aeronautics manufacturer, while the remaining shares are held, among others, by the municipality of Swidnik, southeast Poland.

Italy's Agusta company is reported to have purchased a share in PZL Swidnik.


http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3394355
 

Solid Beast

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PZL Kania
This helicopter has been designed after Mil Mi 2




PZL Sokol

From wiki :

The W-3 Sokół ('Falcon') is the first helicopter to be fully designed and serial-built in Poland.

Work on the project was started at WSK PZL Świdnik in 1973 by the team of Stanisław Kamiński. The Sokół made its first flight on November 16, 1979, and has since been certificated in Poland, Russia, the US and Germany. Following a fairly protracted development program, low rate production of the Sokół commenced during 1985. Initial sales of the general purpose Sokół were within Poland and in the Eastern Bloc, before the collapse of Communism allowed PZL Swidnik to broaden its sales base. To do this PZL Swidnik developed the improved W3A Sokół aimed at achieving Western certification. Certification to US FAR Pt 29 standards was granted in May 1993, while German certification was granted in December of that year.

The Sokół is of conventional design and construction, with two PZL-10W turboshafts, which are based on the PZL-10S - licensed Russian designed TVD-10B turboprops that power the Polish-built An-28. Composites are used in the three-bladed tail and four-bladed main rotors.

The Sokół is offered in a number of variants and is capable of performing a typical range of helicopter missions, including passenger transport, VIP, cargo, EMS, medevac, firefighting and search and rescue.

The 100th Sokół was completed in June 1996.







PZL SW-4

The origins of PZL-Swidnik's SW4 five seat light utility helicopter date back to the early 1980s.

PZL-Swidnik began development of a new four/five place light utility helicopter in 1981. This original SW4 was to have been powered by a 300 kW (400 shp) PZL Rzeszow GTD350 turboshaft and was built in mockup form. It would have had a top speed of 240 km/h (130kt) and a max range with auxiliary fuel of 900 km (485 nm).

The collapse of the Iron Curtain allowed Swidnik to substantially redesign the SW4, based around the Allison 250 turboshaft. Aside from the powerplant, design changes included a more streamlined fuselage and revised tail and tailboom.

The first prototype, a non flying ground test aircraft, was rolled out in December 1994. Two flying prototypes have been built, the first of which was completed in 1996 and first flew on October 26 that year.

PZL-Swidnik aims to attain US FAA FAR Part 27 certification for the SW4 which will allow it to enter production in 1999. The program was delayed somewhat when PZL Swidnik decided to redesign the rotor head, enlarge the horizontal stabiliser and improve the hydraulic system.

Once the basic Allison powered SW4 is certificated and in production PZL Swidnik aims to offer a Pratt & Whitney Canada PW200-powered variant. A twin engine model is also planned to allow the helicopter to meet forthcoming European regulations which will restrict single engine helicopter operations under some conditions.

The SW4 is expected to be able to fulfil a range of utility missions ranging from executive transport to medevac and police roles. Border patrol and military pilot training are other planned missions.

In 2006, PZL-Świdnik entered into agreement with China's Jiujiang Hongying Technology Development Ltd to co-produce the SW4 at Jiujiang, China, with sight set on the international market for SW4. The maiden flight of the first SW4 co-produced in China took place on 25 Feb 2010 [1].





 

A.V.

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The Sokół is offered in a number of variants and is capable of performing a typical range of helicopter missions, including passenger transport, VIP, cargo, EMS, medevac, firefighting and search and rescue.
thats clearer because that leaves out the arms embargo imposed on china
nice development for the chinese
 

amoy

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thats clearer because that leaves out the arms embargo imposed on china
including passenger transport, VIP, cargo, EMS, medevac, firefighting and search and rescue.
--- really not for military
 

hit&run

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it also proves how capable Chinese were to produce home grown products like these............
 

ahmedsid

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it also proves how capable Chinese were to produce home grown products like these............
Chinese Industry is not upto the standards of the Europeans or the Russians or the Americans. Yes they are trying for self sufficiency, but rest assured, it will be atleast 40 Years before they get matured results.

One thing is that, wont the Poles be wary of the Chinese copying this and selling it or something? Just a thought! God Speed
 

amoy

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Chinese Industry is not upto the standards of the Europeans or the Russians or the Americans. Yes they are trying for self sufficiency, but rest assured, it will be atleast 40 Years before they get matured results.

One thing is that, wont the Poles be wary of the Chinese copying this and selling it or something? Just a thought! God Speed
Ya as u said - at least 40 years! so no worry

the standards of the Europeans or the Russians or the Americans -- that's the difference in psyche between Chinese and Indian. In my opinion it's just a matter of time in a country which invented paper, fireworks, compass and block printing
 

ahmedsid

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Ya as u said - at least 40 years! so no worry

the standards of the Europeans or the Russians or the Americans -- that's the difference in psyche between Chinese and Indian. In my opinion it's just a matter of time in a country which invented paper, fireworks, compass and block printing
Look, I didnt mean to offend you or your country, but dont you think I was being Realistic? Yes you guys invented Paper, but then we are in a different Era now, its no more papyrus times. Now the leap has taken a huge bound that, just brains wont work to make Air Planes and all, you need tools, machines and know how! Only a few have that! I trust the Chinese will bounce back, but I wouldnt expect it soon. It has a lot of catching up to do, We Indians realise this, we wont say we are right up there, but we are trying, and yes the Chinese are trying better, but its a fact that your Indigenous attack helo and others are still in the works due to engine trouble and all.
 

Armand2REP

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We've seen this play out before. China gets licensed production of civilian machine, then we see it adapted for military use. Remember the Dauphin?
 

ajtr

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China-built large civil copter to make first flight

BEIJING - The AC313, China's first independently developed civilian helicopter, has its maiden flight scheduled for mid-March in the eastern province of Jiangxi, a company official said here Saturday.
Sun Cong, deputy chief engineer of Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), told Xinhua on the sideline of the national advisory body's annual session in Beijing, that the new aircraft is the country's first domestically developed large helicopter for civilian use.
The AC313, designed and manufactured by AVIC, has a maximum takeoff weight of 13.8 tons and can carry 27 passengers or 15 wounded personnel, said Sun, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body.

The new helicopter was designed for a variety of uses, including search and rescue, fighting forest fires, and even assisting in fighting fires within cities, Sun said.

The CPPCC National Committee opened its annual sessions in Beijing on Wednesday.
 

amoy

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"It is a framework agreement for co-operation over a decade. We will deliver three types of helicopters: PZL Sokol, PZL Kania and SW-4, according to orders that will be specified on a yearly basis," PZL Swidnik spokesman Jan Mazur told AFP.

A standard version PZL Sokol helicopter costs $ 4 million dollars (2.6 million euros), while a SW-4 costs less than a million dollars.
Poland's State Treasury controls 87 percent of the PZL Swidnik aeronautics manufacturer, while the remaining shares are held, among others, by the municipality of Swidnik, southeast Poland.

Italy's Agusta company is reported to have purchased a share in PZL Swidnik.
Need to probe further into the background... Very likely - a wild guess - PZL Swidnik is in dire need of big orders to bridge over the recession since they always count on foreign demand on helicopters. Similarly it happened with Ukrainian manufacturers before.
 

Armand2REP

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Need to probe further into the background... Very likely - a wild guess - PZL Swidnik is in dire need of big orders to bridge over the recession since they always count on foreign demand on helicopters. Similarly it happened with Ukrainian manufacturers before.
PZL Swidnik is owned by Agusta Westland of Italy. Agusta is doing quite well despite the recession and PZL Swidnik only survives by making components for AW helos. It gives the Italians a cheap place to outsource helicopter components while still being in the EU. Italy doesn't want to sell its top line helos out of fears China will copy it. It doesn't care if it copies the PZL W3, it is a Russian engine on basically a Soviet design.
 

badguy2000

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PLA leaders always just pay little attention to the developement of hilicopters
 

tony4562

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This purchase has nothing to do with China's military modernization. None of the helicopters made by PLZ is in any way better than SA365/Z-9 which China has been producing for 2 decades or Mi17 which China has been importing (lately also localløy assembling) from Russia. China is buying those helicopters because China's civilian helicopter market currently has huge needs and domestic suppliers (Z-8, Z-9, Z-11 and EC-120) have difficulties to fill them and western products are so expensive. Those CHEAP helos from POland suit China's needs perfectly.

This purcahse also does not reflect ability of China's helicopter industry. As said SA365/Z-9 is nicer than any of those polish offerings, and China is equal partner with Eurocopter in developing both EC120 and EC175. US has been operating lots of french helicopters, would you say SA365 is a better helicopter than UH60?

Chia currently has a 5 trillion GDP, but civilian helicopter fleet is tiny with just about 124 (Jan 2009, http://www.china.org.cn/business/2009-01/09/content_17079799.htm) helicopters. In comparison there are 1580 passenger airliners , mostly jets, operating in China. Among BRIC countries, India probably has more civilian helos than China does, Brazil has more for sure, and Russia has a lot more. Its a shortcoming that was dearly exposed during the Scechuan earth quake. China's civilian helicopter market is currently in midst of a revolution.
 

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