$3.5 billion multipurpose aircraft deal heralded as "contract of the century"

The Sejm agreed yesterday that by 2008 the Polish air force will be allowed to buy up to 48 multipurpose aircraft. The bill on purchases for defense also encompasses issues like training the pilots as well as the purchase of auxiliary equipment and building appropriate air-bases. The Sejm also declared that offset contracts will be signed 60 days within the date of signing the deal with the selected aircraft provider. According to initial estimates the contract is worth $3.5 billion. It will be completed over several years and it is already labelled as the "Contract of the Century" due to its unprecedented value in the history of Poland. Three bidders including US-based Lockheed Martin, Dassault Aviation of France as well as the Swedish-British consortium of Saab-BAE Systems are fighting over the contract. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 2; Rzeczpospolita, p. A4) A.Z.