Poland has chosen the Airbus Caracal helicopter 
The Polish Defence Ministry has decided to choose for further tests the Airbus Helicopters "H225M Caracal" and to drop the offer of the British-Italian group AgustaWestland ("AW149") and the US manufacturer Sikorsky ("S 70i Black Hawk" and "S 70B Seahawk").
This is an important step to decide the tender to replace Poland's Soviet-era fleet of 40 "Mil Mi-17" military helicopters. But the Polish government has reduced the number of tri-service choppers from 70 to 50 units, and says that, at this stage, no value can be given for the contract that, at first, was worth up to €2.5 billion.
Airbus Helicopters, formerly Eurocopters, said earlier this year that if it won the tender it would set an helicopter assembly line and a manufacturing centre for key helicopter parts in Poland's industrial hub of Lodz.
The "H225M Caracal" has been chosen by France, Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.