DoD: Support Centre was not in official Swedish offer for jets

The Slovak Defence Ministry denies that building a support centre by Saab, which is the producer of JAS Gripen fighter jets, was part of the offer that the Ministry received from the Swedish government for the acquisition of new planes. On Monday, Saab issued an official statement in this respect, following the comments that Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš (Slovak National Party/SNS) made during a political show by the public broadcaster RTVS. He stated that the ministry hadn't received such a bid. "The fact is that on October 26, 2017, Saab's proposal for the construction of a Gripen Support Centre was officially delivered to the Slovak Defence Ministry in person," said director of Saab's Market Area Europe Magnus Lewis-Olsson. The centre should hire 500 people. The Defence Minister confirmed that the decision on which type of fighter jets will succeed the country's ageing Russian MiG-29s in protecting Slovak airspace is likely to be made by the end of June, with both American F-16s and Swedish Gripens in the game. MP and former Defence Minister Ľubomír Galko believes that the decision was already made a long time ago and Slovakia will procure the F-16s.