Lockheed Martin winner of muti-task plane tender

Last Friday the government choose Lockheed Martin's (LM) F-16 plane in the tender for a multi-task aircraft for the armed forces. President Aleksander Kwasniewski personally informed US President George W. Bush about the decision and stressed that this will result in a new level of mutual political and economic relations with the USA. Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said that LM's offer was best due to its substantial offset proposals. To finalize the $3.5 billion deal the parties must first complete negotiations about the final shape and value of planned investment in Poland. According to the calculations presented on Friday, the real value of offset transactions will be $3 billion less than promised by the Americans and will amount to slightly over $6 billion. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, A3, Dec. 28-29, 2002) M.M.