Offset deal proposed as part of military jets contract

The Swedish-British consortium Gripen International has presented investment proposals which are associated with its offer for the purchase, by the Polish government, of multi-purpose military jets. John Mac Beath, the director of BAE Systems offset projects said that the consortium is offering an offset deal worth 100% of the contract value over a period of ten years. Half of the deal would be completed within three years from the signing of the contract. "If Gripen will win the tender for the multi-purpose plane, the final assembly of the jets will take place in Poland and a new parts' production line will also be opened here," said Ray Lomas, director of the Polish branch of Gripen International. John Mac Beath also said that BAE Systems and several other companies which are part of the Gripen fighter jet program have signed a number of letters of intent, pertaining to co-operation with Polish companies. The list includes the Polish branch of Ericsson, Polskie Zaklady Lotnicze (PZL) Mielec, as well as the Gdansk and Szczecin Universities of Technology. The Polish armed forces expect to have 48 modern multi-purpose fighter jets at their disposal by the end of 2008. The bidders in the tender, worth $3.5 billion which was announced in March 2001, include Gripen, F16 C/D of the U.S. and Mirage 2000-5 Mk2 of France. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B3) M.T.K