Gripen Czech Republic Offset Programme successfully completes second contractual milestone

Gripen Czech Republic Offset Programme successfully completes second
contractual milestone

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.

For further information please contact:
Anna Lindh
Communications manager, Saab  
anna.lindh@saabgroup.com (anna.lindh@saabgroup.com)

Ondřej Peterka
Account Manager, Stance Communications
ondrej.peterka@stance.cz (ondrej.peterka@stance.cz)
www.saabgroup.com (http://www.saabgroup.com/)

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