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GRIPEN

Saab to cut Swiss Gripen fighter price: report

Swedish defence firm Saab will cut the price on its Gripen fighter jet to ensure that it wins a Swiss order after French planemaker Dassault threatened to undercut its offer, a report said Wednesday.

Saab to cut Swiss Gripen fighter price: report

In November, Dassault lost out on a bid to replace Switzerland’s ageing F5 fighter fleet when the Federal Council opted instead to buy 22 Saab Gripen planes for an estimated 3.1 billion francs (2.6 billion euros).

“The price will be less than 3.1 billion (francs), Saab’s Switzerland director Anders Carp was quoted by the Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger as saying.

Sources cited by the newspaper suggested the new price could be between 2.5 and 2.8 billion francs.

It is understood Saab wants to challenge a reported counter-offer by Dassault proposing 18 Rafale planes for 2.7 billion francs.

Dassault sent a letter outlining the proposal to the security commission of the Swiss parliament, which still has to approve the Gripen purchase.

The Swiss government must formally endorse the deal this month and it will then be sent to lawmakers for final approval later this year.

Saab has said Bern can sign the Gripen contract directly with the Swedish government which would act as a guarantor in the event of any difficulty in delivering the aircraft, Hakan Jevrell from the Swedish defence ministry told Tages Anzeiger.

Last month, India announced it had selected Dassault as sole bidder to negotiate a sale of 126 Rafales estimated at $12 billion (9.1 billion euros).

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FIGHTER

Boeing sues Denmark after losing out on fighter jet deal

Boeing has filed a lawsuit against Denmark for not giving it access to documents it claims unfairly led to the American aerospace giant losing out on a contract to replace the country’s aging fighter jet fleet.

Boeing sues Denmark after losing out on fighter jet deal
Photo : Hamad I Mohammed/Scanpix

“Boeing has filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Defence because the ministry has not responded to the request for access to the documents which are the foundation for the evaluation in the competition for the fighter jets,” Boeing said in statement on Thursday.

The government announced in June that it had selected Lockheed Martin's F-35s Lightning IIs over Boeing's F/A 18 Super Hornets in a deal valued at 20 billion kroner (€2.69 billion, $3.02 billion).

Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Eurofighter's Typhoon model had also been in the running for the order to replace Denmark’s fleet of F-16s, which had been debated for over ten years.

Boeing did not accept the decision, however, accusing the Danish government of basing it on flawed information that did not give the American group a fair chance.  

In September, Boeing submitted a request to Denmark’s defence ministry requesting access to the documents used in the procurement evaluation process.

“We believe the ministry's evaluation of the competitors was fundamentally flawed and inaccurately assessed the cost and capability of the F/A-18 Super Hornet,” Debbie Rub, a Boeing vice president, said at the time.

Denmark is one of nine partner countries, that also include Britain, Canada and Turkey, who are helping pay for the futuristic F-35A fighter jet's development.

The country expects to take delivery of the F-35s between 2021 and 2026.