Defense Minister confirms used aircraft no longer part of air force tender

Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski confirmed yesterday during a visit to Stockholm that Poland is now interested in purchasing 48 brand new multipurpose aircraft for its military, rather than both new and used aircraft. Szmajdzinski said the Cabinet will propose tomorrow an amendment to the bill agreed upon last year, which envisaged the purchase of 16 used fighters as part of the contract. The Swedish-British Gripen is one of three aircraft being put forward for the Polish air force tender. During official talks with his Swedish counterpart, Szmajdzinski gave assurances that all bids to supply the aircraft were being evaluated equally and that both technical and offset conditions were being taken into consideration. In recent statements Defense Ministry officials have argued that the purchase of brand new equipment is more sensible, given the cost of repairing used aircraft and the fact that the used machinery option would limit the offset possibilities. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A4) P.J.