Poland opens 'talks' on new military choppers after Airbus row

Poland said Tuesday it had invited aeronautics rivals Airbus, Lockheed Martin and Leonardo-Finmeccanica to talks on the purchase of military helicopters valued at 231 million euros ($254 million).

The move comes after Warsaw halted formal negotiations with Airbus to buy 50 of its Caracal helicopters for 13.5 billion zloty (three billion euros, $3.43 billion) on October 4, drawing a furious response from Airbus and ratcheting up tensions with France.

Poland then followed this with the announcement it was buying Black Hawk helicopters from the US.

Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz has "invited three groups who participated in a previous tender to preliminary talks" on the purchase of multirole helicopters, ministry official Beata Perkowska told reporters in Warsaw on Tuesday.

She added Poland wanted to spend "around one billion zloty (231 million euros, $254 bln)" on the new choppers, but did not specify how many machines were under consideration.

She also underlined that the invitation to talks was not a formal tender and Warsaw planned to purchase the helicopters within the framework of an "urgent operational need".

In a separate purchase announced last week, Macierewicz said that Poland plans to buy at least 21 US Black Hawk helicopters from Airbus rival Lockheed Martin for its special forces.

Warsaw has previously said that it is seeking between 50 and 70 helicopters, to be manufactured in both Poland and abroad.

Airbus has furiously criticised Warsaw over its handling of the failed deal, with chief executive Tom Enders saying his company had never been treated so badly by any government.

The spat has ratcheted up diplomatic tensions between Warsaw and Paris, which was backing Airbus in the process.

French President Francois Hollande postponed a visit to Poland.

There is disagreement over who actually ended the negotiations, with Poland blaming Airbus for the breakdown in the talks.

The dispute centred on Airbus' commitment to create up to 6,000 jobs in Poland -- the so-called "offset" package, according to the Polish side.

But the short time between the collapse in talks with Airbus and the emergence of a possible deal with Lockheed has led some to speculate that Poland was in touch with the US manufacturer before the talks broke down.