Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH
FRANCE HAS RAISED the stakes in the competition to secure a string of fighter-aircraft contracts in Eastern Europe by offering to sell its latest air-to-air weapons as part of any deal.
US rivals have not been cleared by their Government to go beyond technical briefings for the Hughes Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles. Lockheed Martin's F-16, the McDonnell Douglas F-18 and the British Aerospace/Saab JAS39 Gripen are all being offered to the air forces of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland without full clearance for the key air-to-air missile.
Dassault Aviation is offering a full weapons package, with its Mirage 2000-5, including the Matra BAe Dynamics radar-homing Mica EM and infra-red-homing Magic 2 missiles. According to Dassault European military-sales manager Serge Rigaux, the company has Government approval for the offer "from the first briefing to the final sale".
So far, Dassault has been considered as having only an outside chance of winning the competitions, with the Czech Republic and Poland saying that the aircraft is too expensive, and the proposed industrial participation package insufficient.
"We are ready to offer manufacture of subassemblies and an assembly line, if the number of aircraft is sufficient," says Dassault vice-president Jean-Francois Moccand. Final assembly would not be offered for fewer than about 100 aircraft, however, he adds.
Moccand says that a request for quotations could be issued by Poland as early as the end of this year, with Hungary following suit by mid-1997.
No date has been given for the Czech bid, and local aerospace company Aero Holding says that the republic must first draw up a new defence plan, which should specify the number of aircraft needed by the air force. The plan has been declared a priority for this year, says Aero.
According to Czech industry officials, the republic will probably order about 20 aircraft, depending on budget constraints. Poland is likely to order between 40 and 80 aircraft, in batches, while Hungary wants 25-30 aircraft, says Dassault.
Dassault and Lockheed Martin are encouraging the countries to put forward a joint bid, to co-operate on financing the deal and subsequent maintenance.
Moccand is sceptical, however, about whether the countries will be able to agree on how to divide any offset package.
Rigaux says that, while Dassault has offered the same weapons package to all the countries, Hungary has asked for Raytheon AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles to be fitted to the Mirage to be used for short-range defence.
Source: Flight International
