Romania Buys the H225M Helicopters Poland Dropped in 2016
Romania is buying the Airbus H225M Caracal helicopters that Poland walked away from a decade ago. According to a report published by Spanish defense outlet infodefensa on 18 October, Romania’s Ministry of National Defence has agreed to acquire 12 H225M helicopters for roughly €757 million, with deliveries phased through 2030.
The purchase is being financed through the European Union’s SAFE (Security Action for Europe) defense funding instrument. The new helicopters will replace Romania’s aging Puma fleet in both conventional transport and special-operations roles.
The program Poland dropped in 2016
The H225M’s predecessor, the EC725 Caracal, was pre-selected by Poland’s Ministry of Defence in 2015 for a planned 50-helicopter program. In October 2016, however, negotiations over industrial offsets collapsed without agreement. Poland’s Ministry of Development at the time said Airbus’s proposals did not meet the economic criteria the government required. Warsaw had demanded offsets at least equal to the contract’s value — roughly 13.5 billion zloty, or about €3.1 billion at the time — and that gap was cited as the reason for the cancellation. Poland did not replace the canceled program with an equivalent order for a heavy multi-role helicopter.
Instead, Poland spread its helicopter needs across several platforms: 32 Leonardo AW149s for the Army, ordered in July 2022 for roughly €1.89 billion with deliveries running 2023-2029; four Leonardo AW101s for anti-submarine warfare, ordered for the Navy in 2019; eight Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawks for special operations, delivered in batches of four in 2019 and 2021; and 96 Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, ordered in August 2024.
The industrial link that explains Romania’s different outcome
Airbus Helicopters Romania is a joint venture in which Airbus holds a 60 percent stake and Romanian aircraft manufacturer IAR holds the remaining 40 percent. Airbus and IAR also have cooperation agreements covering the manufacture and customization of the H215M and H145M models. According to infodefensa’s analysis, the decade-long gap between the two outcomes is largely explained by this industrial framework: Romania has both EU-level financing and an established industrial relationship with Airbus, while Poland never reached an offset agreement.
H225M specifications
The H225M is a twin-engine helicopter from the Super Puma family, powered by Safran Makila 2A1 engines and fitted with a five-blade main rotor. It can carry up to 28 fully equipped troops and reaches a top speed of 324 km/h. Its range is 920 kilometers, extendable to 1,253 kilometers with auxiliary fuel tanks, and it has a maximum slung-load capacity of 4,750 kilograms. The aircraft can operate from both ships and land bases and is designed to handle adverse weather conditions, including icing.
The role of SAFE financing
The EU’s SAFE defense funding instrument was created to strengthen member states’ defense capacity and has already shaped procurement decisions in several Eastern European countries. Romania financing its H225M purchase through this mechanism eases pressure on its national budget while reinforcing the EU-level defense industrial supply chain. It also helps Airbus defend its position in the mid-size helicopter segment of the European market, where competitors such as Leonardo and Sikorsky remain strong.
In that mid-size multi-role helicopter market, the H225M’s main rivals include Leonardo’s AW149 and Sikorsky’s S-70i Black Hawk — both platforms Poland chose after 2016. Romania opting for Airbus in the same segment shows that regional procurement decisions are not settling on a single manufacturer, but continue to hinge on industrial partnership structures and financing models that vary from country to country.
Sources
Primary source: infodefensa, “Rumanía comprará los H225M de Airbus que Polonia descartó: ¿por qué?,” 18 October 2026.
