The Times of India

SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2003

Poland to buy F-16 fighters from US

AP

DEBLIN, Poland: Poland on Friday signed a deal to buy 48 US-made F-16 jet
fighters for US$3.5 billion, the biggest defence contract by a former Soviet
bloc country since the end of the Cold War.

Along with the purchase of planes from Lockheed Martin, Polish and US
officials concluded an agreement detailing US transfer of technology,
business deals with Polish manufacturers and investment in Poland that more
than offsets the cost of the planes. The Polish government announced last
December that it had chosen the US government-backed bid over two rival
European offers - the Swedish-British Gripen jet and the French-made Mirage
2000.

But negotiating the so-called offset deals took several more months. With
its complexity and scope, the package underscored strong US-Polish strategic
ties, reinforced in recent months by Warsaw's support for the war in Iraq.
Polish Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski and US Gen Tome Walters signed
the F-16 contract at the Polish Air Force Academy in Deblin, some 100
kilometres south of Warsaw, at a ceremony attended by Polish Prime Minister
Leszek Miller and US Ambassador Christopher Hill.

Szmajdzinski called it "the contract of the century." Lockheed Martin, based
in Bethesda, Maryland, will be replacing Poland's Soviet-made MiG fighters
as the country modernises its military to NATO standards. Poland joined the
military alliance in 1999, along with Hungary and the Czech Republic. The
purchase contract specifies items of delivery including the aircraft, spare
engines, missiles and bombs as well as training for Polish pilots.

Deliveries of the planes are to start in 2006. The offset deal is to run
over 10 years. Major projects include plans by General Motors to expand a
plant in Gliwice, Poland, and pledge by Motorola to invest in a
communications system for Polish public services. Polish plants are to make
engines and engine parts for Lockheed Martin and for Pratt & Whitney.

US companies, including a subsidiary of the Houston-based Halliburton are to
modernise a major refinery at Gdansk and cooperate with Polish
pharmaceuticals makers. Polish leaders hope the deals will create jobs and
boost the sluggish economy, which slowed to about 1 per cent growth last
year. On Tuesday, Polish defence officials signed a US$1.2 billion deal for
the delivery of 690 Finnish-made troop carriers over the next 10 years.

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