Prague, June 18 (CTK) – The Czech Republic has gained 31.6 billion crowns thanks to the offset programme associated with the lease of the Gripen fighters since 2004, the Saab company, that manufactures the fighters, has told CTK.
Last year alone, it was 2.4 billion crowns, Saab representatives have said.
According to the contract from 2004, the industrial cooperation is to bring 130 percent of the value of the agreement for the lease of the Gripens or 25.545 billion crowns.
The Czech Gripen programme of industrial cooperation has achieved its objective of supporting the Czech industry by reaching the value exceeding the contractual obligations, Saab AB vice president Daniel Boestad said.
Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky said the cooperation with the Swedish side had been excellent all the time.
“These are reliable machines. Czech pilots have flown with them 20,000 hours,” he added.
“I am glad that the programme of industrial cooperation was successfully implemented,” Stropnicky said.
The value of a transaction within an offset programme is defined as net exports generated in connection with the given order or net sales of a firm’s own products associated with the investment of a foreign partner.
The Czech Republic now has 14 Jas-39 Gripen fighters it has leased from its manufacturer.
The final decision to replace the outdated Soviet MiG-21s for the Gripens was made in June 2004 when the government signed an agreement on the lease of 14 fighters for almost 20 billion crowns for ten years.
The Gripens were included in the Czech military on April 26, 2005 and they started patrolling the Czech airspace on July 1, 2005.
Last year, the government approved the prolongation of the lease of the Gripens until 2027. The Czech Republic will pay 1.7 billion crowns annually for the lease.
The acquisition of the aircraft was accompanied by suspected corruption, but last year, the Prague state attorney’s office decided to shelve the case.
