CASA C-295M medium transport aircraft (2001 contract)

On 28 August 2001 the Ministry of National Defence signed an agreement to acquire 8 CASA C-295M medium transport aircraft (with an option for a further 4) for the Polish Air Force. The contract was worth USD 211.5 million (approximately PLN 865 million at the 2001 average annual NBP rate of about 4.09 PLN/USD). Poland became the first foreign export customer for this aircraft type, replacing the ageing An-26. The first aircraft arrived in Poland on 15 August 2003, and the last of the 8 ordered aircraft arrived on 23 August 2005; the fleet later grew to 16 aircraft. The contract was linked to an offset agreement signed with EADS CASA (with full completion due by 2011) and to the privatisation of PZL Warszawa-Okecie S.A. Under the offset, EADS CASA acquired 77% of the shares of the manufacturer, which was at risk of bankruptcy, and set up a domestic service centre. The aircraft are based at the 8th Transport Aviation Base at the Krakow-Balice airfield and barracks complex. Under the methodology's defence rule (v1.2), the record surfaces the programme as a strategic pillar of transport aviation, and as a foreign acquisition its cost (USD 211.5 million) is recorded as Polish defence spending (spend_only), counted in the 'total spending' aggregate but excluded from the value of assets created in Poland (there is no isolable domestic capital outlay).