extrait
BEIRUT — The UAE has terminated a nearly €800 million contract to procure 12 H225 Caracal multirole helicopters from French aircraft giant Airbus, a government official exclusively told Breaking Defense.
“We recently terminated a contract with Airbus Helicopters to purchase H225 helicopters. We found it difficult to continue the contract due to the high lifecycle cost, the limitations in adapting to modular designs of future mission requirements, and the complex technical proposal,” Muammar Abdulla Abushehab, defense and security industry affairs sector chief for the Tawazun council, said in a May 8 interview.
The Tawazun council is the UAE’s independent government entity that works closely with the Ministry of Defense and security agencies in the United Arab Emirates, and it is assigned, among other roles, the research and development as well as technological innovation side of the sector.
Requests for comment to Airbus were not returned by press time.
Abushehab said the cancellation was not a political one, but based entirely on financial and technical reasons. “The company lacked the serious motivation to respond to our demands in order to meet the pressing requirements of the government. The failure to achieve in-country value goals was another factor in the decision to terminate the contract,” he said.
