Promises, promises, and more promises...
Airbus or Eurocopter or whatever their name will be six months hence,
Don't know why they have to change the helicopter designation and name as well
Rebranding be well and truly damned,
Reminds one of entities like Cellular One who had to keep changing their name and had to buy the AT&T name...
Portends great troubles at home
Aerospatiale of old did make great helicopters,
The Dauphine with its fenestron (shrouded tail fan) and extreme stability in hover,
still the favorite for Search and Rescue at any price,
Only approached in stability by the Chinook (and Kamov contra-rotating shipborne helicopters I guess),
The Ecureil well and truly busting the JetRangers's hold on the light helicopter market, even in the US,
The Llama before them setting standards for high-altitude operations.
Pakistan Army's Pumas were surely their gold standards for solid durability,
good reason the basic airframe design is still being used as a basis for new aircraft.
However, given Airbus's recent record,
I would not put any credence in them being able to lower costs;
In fact, I would wager they will end up costing more rather than less once procurement is done with
The Poland deal, even with kickbacks
(how much ever were they to justify such an exorbitant price tag?)
doest makes my head spin, still
So, Caveat Emptor