The Eagle has landed

Lockheed Martin has waltzed away with the €4 billion deal to equip the air force with new fighter jets, its F-16 effortlessly shooting down the French Mirage and Anglo-Swedish Gripen. The deal is supposed to bring €1.5 billion in so-called offsets, the value of downstreamed activities injected into local companies. Still to be announced in the weapons parade: orders for armoured personnel carriers and antitank missiles.