PZL-Świdnik S.A. (''Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego PZL-Świdnik S.A.'') is the biggest helicopter manufacturer in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. Its main products are

PZL W-3 Sokół The PZL W-3 ''Sokół'' (English: "Falcon") is a medium-size, twin-engine, multipurpose helicopter developed and manufactured by Polish helicopter company PZL-Świdnik, now owned by Leonardo. It was the first helicopter entirely designed and pr ...

and

PZL SW-4 Puszczyk The PZL SW-4 Puszczyk (en: tawny owl) is a Polish light single-engine multipurpose helicopter manufactured by PZL-Świdnik. Following a protracted development, the SW-4 entered service in 2002, the primary operator of the type has been the Polis ...

helicopters. In early 2010 the factory was acquired by

AgustaWestland AgustaWestland was an Anglo-Italian helicopter design and manufacturing company, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica (now known as Leonardo). It was formed in July 2000 as an Anglo-Italian multinational company, when Finmeccani ...

, today

Leonardo Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard. People Notable people with the name include: * Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italian Renaissance scientist ...

History

History of plant establishment dating back to 1920, when in

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of ...

opened the first aircraft factory "

Plage i Laśkiewicz Plage i Laśkiewicz (Plage & Laśkiewicz) was the first Polish aerospace manufacturer, located in Lublin and manufacturing aircraft under Lublin name. Full name was: ''Zakłady Mechaniczne E. Plage i T. Laśkiewicz'' – Mechanical Works E. Pla ...

". After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

part of the senior instructors staff incorporated into the newly formed "Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego". In 1951 a third national aerospace factory, WSK-Świdnik, was built in Świdnik, and in 1957 it was renamed to WSK PZL-Świdnik. Since 1956 it has become one of the world's major helicopter manufacturers, producing helicopters under the Soviet licence, starting with the SM-1 ( Mil Mi-1). Świdnik was the main producer of the Mi-1 and exclusive producer of the widely used in the world

Mil Mi-2 The Mil Mi-2 (NATO reporting name Hoplite) is a small, three rotor blade Soviet-designed multi-purpose helicopter developed by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant designed in the early 1960s, and produced exclusively by WSK "PZL-Świdnik" in Polan ...

. Since the late 1980s, Świdnik has been producing a Polish-designed medium helicopter

. It also produces a light helicopter, the PZL SW-4 Puszczyk. After 1991 the state factory became a state-owned corporation (WSK "PZL-Świdnik" SA). It also produced the Pirat, PW-5 and PW-6 gliders and cooperates widely with other nations' manufacturers, e.g., in the manufacture of

Agusta A109 The AgustaWestland AW109, originally the Agusta A109, is a lightweight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter designed and initially produced by the Italian rotorcraft manufacturer Agusta. It was the first all-Italian helicopter to ...

fuselages. In early 2010 the factory was acquired by

, today

Motorcycles

From 1954 until 1980 the WSK PZL-Świdnik was also a manufacturer of motorcycles, branded as the WSK. Some 2,000,000 motorcycles of the WSK M06 125 cc and WSK M21 175 cc families were made in that period. Adam Zakrzewski, ''Auto-moto PRL: władcy dróg i poboczy'', Demart, Warsaw 2010, , p.158

Aircraft

References

External links

PZL-Świdnik official webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pzl-Swidnik Aircraft manufacturers of Poland Helicopter manufacturers of Poland Motorcycle manufacturers of Poland AgustaWestland

History

Motorcycles

Aircraft

See also

References

External links