.@MDHelicopters (MDH) seeing lots of Eastern European interest in MD 530 #CayuseWarrior (#LittleBird) light attack and scout helicopter - company spox tells me at @DefenceIQ #IMHelicon. 1/7 
Ukraine war driving interest. Spox did not name the prospective Euro customer(s), but those flying ageing #WarsawPact-era airframes inc Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, & Czech Rep possible contenders. Not inconceivable #Ukraine itself might be recipient. 2/7
With many countries requiring a rotary-winged strike platform but unable to match the high costs of a dedicated attack platform such as the Apache, the single-engined #MD530 provides proven capability in a relatively cheap package. 3/7
The MD 530 costs an estimated $5m to $10m to procure compared with upwards of $40m for a dedicated attack helicopter, and is substantially cheaper to operate at $500 per hour compared with about $10,000 per hour. 4/7
For #Europe, the MD 530 would be a useful force multiplier to more capable (but also much complex and expensive) dedicated attack helicopters, providing much needed and readily available mass to forces that have been thinned out over decades of underinvestment in defence. 5/7
MDH could look for increased cooperation with International Defense and Aerospace Group (#IDAG), which told me at @ILA_Berlin it was seeing increased interest in contractor-supplied UH-60s and MD 530s due to Ukraine. janes.com/defence-news/n… 6/7
Full @JanesINTEL story to come... 7/7
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