BAE Systems offers full financing of military aircraft

Swedish-British consortium BAE Systems has offered 100% financing for Poland's potential purchase of Gripen military aircraft, worth around $4 billion. According to Julian Scopes, managing director of BAE Systems in Europe, repayment of the loan would be spread out over 15 years or more. Due to a law enacted by the government last year, the installments for the first nine years of the payback would not annually exceed 0.05% of Poland's GDP, which means they would amount to no more than $100 million. However, after nine years the installments could increase significantly, to as much as $1 billion annually. Deputy Defense Minister Janusz Zemke said recently that he expects 150% of the value of the purchase to be returned in offset investments, as was the case with the Czech Republic's earlier purchase of Gripen military aircraft. There are three competitors fighting to win one of the largest tenders in the history of Poland's armed forces: Lockheed Martin, Dassault Mirage and BAE Systems. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 5; Puls Biznesu, p. 3) A.K.