Economy Ministry committee considers rival bids for fighter plane contract

A special Economy Ministry committee is preparing to hold negotiations with the three rivals bidding for a contract to supply the Polish air force with fighter jets, after they yesterday submitted their offset offers. The three planes being considered for the $3 billion to $3.5 billion deal are a Swedish-British consortium's JAS-39 Gripen, the US F-16, and the French Mirage 2000-5. The offset offers relate to the manufacture and assembly of the planes in Poland. The negotiations are expected to last two weeks, although further rounds of talks have not been ruled out. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 3) A.K.