WARSAW, June 6 (Reuters) - Poland has postponed the

purchase of 32 more U.S. Lockheed Martin S-70i Black Hawk

helicopters for its army, the Polish Ministry of Defence said on

Friday, referring to a shift in priorities.

Poland launched negotiations for the acquisition of the

helicopters produced by Lockheed Martin's ( LMT ) Polish arm PZL Mielec,

in 2023 under the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government.

"We have decided to change the priorities of the helicopter

programs... to better adapt to the challenges of future

warfare," armed forces chief of staff General Wieslaw Kukula

told a press conference.

The Polish military aims to prioritise the acquisition of

training and combat helicopters, a versatile naval carrier

helicopter, and a heavy transport helicopter, Kukula said.

Earlier Polish media reported the acquisition process for

the Black Hawks was cancelled.

Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) said in an email on Friday, that it looks

forward to continuing its long-standing partnership with Poland

where 1,700 PZL Mielec employees are involved in the manufacture

of F-16 fighters and Black Hawks.

Grzegorz Polak, a spokesman for Poland's Armament Agency

which buys equipment for the army, told Reuters on Friday that

"some correction" was needed regarding priorities in light of

the geopolitical situation and state security interests.

"Maybe it is necessary to acquire other equipment in its

(helicopters') place such as drones, or tanks, or some kind of

communication," he said, adding it was not the agency that set

procurement priorities.

PiS lawmaker Mariusz Blaszczak, who was defence minister in

the previous government, labelled the decision to suspend the

purchase of the Black Hawks a "disgrace" in a post on X, saying

it would slow down the replacement of the helicopter fleet.