Sweden Has Offered Loan of Gripen Fighters to Poland

Swedish industrial group Saab has offered Poland the loan of 16 Gripen combat jets for five years, daily Dagens Nyheter reported on Thursday. The Swedish report follows last Friday's report from the PAP agency which reported Swedish defense minister Bjorn Sydow as saying that Sweden would make a fresh offer by the end of the year in Poland's tender for fighter aircraft, including the loan of the Gripen jet. The Swedish proposal mirrors a U.S. offer of the loan of second-hand F16 fighters. Poland would only have to pay for pilot training and retrofits for the aircraft, built by Lockheed Martin. The financial terms of the offer would be detailed in negotiations being led by BAE Systems of Britain, which owns 35 percent of Saab, the Swedish manufacturer of the Gripen light fighter, the Swedish minister told PAP.