The Defence Ministry has received a concrete offer for acquiring new interceptors, Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš announced following a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
"We've got one specific offer so far, while others are expected to come within a few months,"he explained.
However, it was not clear whether the bid concerned the sale or lease of aircraft. Gajdoš did not specify either whether the offer came from Sweden or not. Slovakia had been holding talks with Sweden since March 2015 on leasing flight hours of JAS-39 Gripen aircraft. But in late November Gajdoš made it clear that Stockholm was no longer interested in the leasing of flight hours, but rather in a possible lease or sale of aircraft. Gajdoš described the talks with Sweden as a priority, given the fact that the Gripen jets are also leased by the Czech Republic, while the two countries could use the aircraft as part of jointly protecting their skies. An initiative to that effect was announced on Wednesday. After the cabinet session on Wednesday, Gajdoš said that offers could also come from non-NATO countries. Analysts point out that the Slovak air force currently operates old Russian-made MIG fighters, and an upgrade to more modern aircraft is badly needed for the airspace protection scheme to work.
