Gripen Czech Republic Offset Programme Successfully Completes Second Contractual Milestone

(Photo: militarypictures.info)

22 June 2010 -- Gripen International has announced succesfull fulfillment of the second contractual milestone of the Programme of Industrial Cooperation accompanying the lease of 14 Gripen fighters provided by the Swedish government. According to the Annual Report on Offset performance for the calendar year 2009, approved by the Czech Ministry of Defence, the Gripen offset programme has by the December 31st 2009 generated 19.92 billion CZK of cummulative offset value for the Czech Republic.

For the calendar year 2009 transactions value of 3,68 billion CZK have been approved. The cummulative value has now reached 19.92 billion CZK since the start of the programme on June 14th 2004. This represents 78% of the total commitment. As of 31st December 2009 46 offset transactions have been registered.

“We are very pleased the Gripen offset programme continues to benefit Czech industry even in these difficult economic times,” said Bengt Littke, Gripen Programme Director – Czech Republic. “It is our ambition to bring a positive contribution to the Czech economy.”

Background:

Gripen International is committed to generate Offset and Industrial Co-operation to the value of 130 % from the Gripen fighter lease contract value, which represents 25,5 billion CZK. The Offset agreement requires a minimum direct Offset equalling 20 % of the Offset agreement value.

The second milestone states that the achieved cumulative value of the Programme shall correspond to at least 48 % of the commitment and the achieved cumulative value of Direct Transactions shall correspond to at least 9.6 %.

Gripen is a new generation fighter aircraft which employs the latest technology and the latest weapons, which delivers the capability for an extensive variety of air-to-air and air-to-surface operational missions, including recognisance missions. Gripen is in service with the Swedish, Czech, Hungarian, South African air force and in Thailand. The UK Test Pilots’ School (ETPS) is operating Gripen as its advanced fast jet platform for test pilots worldwide. Gripen is fully NATO compatible and can be deployed globally. Gripen meets the highest demands of operational deployment.

Gripen International also has successful Offset Programmes (Industrial Co-operation) in Hungary and South Africa.

Saab Group