Gripen International makes offset contracts proposition

In an interview with Puls Biznesu, Ian McNamee, the managing director of Gripen International, one of the three companies taking part in the bid to supply the armed forces with multipurpose planes, has declared that offset contracts with Rafineria Gdanska and Daewoo FSO would be forthcoming if they win the bid. The consortium, which is competing with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and Dassault of France, plans to form an "offset team" which will act as a kind of investment bank. The team, around 20 strong, would include many Poles whose task would be to identify opportunities, search for partners, draft business plans and manage new ventures. According to McNamee, the government will have to spend around $3 billion for 48 JAS-39 Gripen planes. Besides the offset contracts with Rafineria Gdanska and Daewoo FSO no further plans were revealed. Gripen International sees the American F-16 planes as its main competitor. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6) A.K.