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http://www.zawya.com U.S. Helps Lockheed Martin Market Fighter Plane to Poland -"Its a matter of participating in NATO missions." WARSAW, Poland, Oct 08, 2002 (The Dallas Morning News - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- When new NATO members Hungary and the Czech Republic recently shopped for fighter planes, Lockheed Martin Corp. pitched its Fort Worth-built F-16 -- and struck out twice. Now a far more lucrative contract is up for grabs in Poland, and Uncle Sam is pushing Warsaw to buy American. "The U.S. Embassy has been very heavily engaged in assisting Lockheed in marketing this plane," U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill said in an interview. "We work closely with Lockheed on a daily basis." Mr. Hill is far from the only U.S. official trying to sway America's new ally to choose the F-16 over France's Mirage 2000 or Sweden's JAS 39 Gripen in a 48-plane deal worth about $3.5 billion. Officials from the State Department, Commerce Department and Pentagon have come to Warsaw in waves to tout the military, political and commercial benefits of buying the F-16. With more than 4,000 sold, the Fighting Falcon is the world's most popular multirole combat jet. "The executive branch across Washington has been very engaged in this," said Air Force Lt. Gen. Tome H. Walters Jr., director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. "When I went to Poland in January," the general added, "I told them to leave the lights on, because there was going to be an unending stream of visitors from Washington." For Tarrant County, a Polish victory would add about 500 jobs for a three-year production run at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.'s Fort Worth plant, where about half the 14,423-person payroll works on the F-16. For U.S. national security, the stakes are longer-lasting, officials say: Formerly communist Poland would have a front-line NATO plane fully capable of undertaking alliance missions. Under U.S. law, only the federal government can directly sell big-ticket defense items abroad. In that sense, the involvement of U.S. officials on the F-16's behalf is not unusual, according to George Standridge, the head of Lockheed's sales campaign for Poland. But the degree is. "What I would tell you," he said, "is I believe we are receiving unprecedented levels of support from the United States government for this F-16 sale." Gen. Walters is to personally present Lockheed's offer to the Poles on Nov. 12. Warsaw is to decide by Dec. 27. It is to purchase 16 planes a year in 2006 to 2008. Purchase discussed Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller and President Bush discussed the issue when the Pole visited the White House last January, Polish officials later told The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also talked about the fighter buy when he was in Warsaw last month for NATO meetings, though it was the Polish leader who broached the subject. Days before Mr. Rumsfeld's arrival, the White House asked Congress to approve in advance a loan to Poland of up to $3.8 billion over 15 years to pay for 48 F-16s, weapons, training and support costs. No principal would be due for eight years. With Congress likely to adjourn this month, members from Texas and from Maryland -- the headquarters state of corporate parent Lockheed Martin Corp. -- have been scrambling to find a piece of legislation to which they can attach the Poland loan. Why the uncommon federal interest in helping Lockheed win? One reason may be frustration that Hungary and the Czech Republic, two other former Soviet satellites admitted to NATO in 1998, recently chose the Gripen over the F-16. "I think that's a big part of it," said Richard Aboulafia, who follows the fighter plane market for the Teal Group, a Washington consulting firm. "There was a fear of losing the east European market." Gen. Walters conceded disappointment over Hungary's decision last year to lease 14 Gripens. But "the U.S. government was not in favor of the Czechs acquiring a new fighter," he said. "They simply don't have the money." And whatever the economic sting of losing in Hungary and the Czech Republic, the chief reason for Washington's focus on the F-16 sale to Poland is strategic, U.S. officials say. Poland, a country about the size of New Mexico and home to 40 million people, is the largest of the three Central European nations admitted to NATO. Hungary and the Czech Republic have about 10 million people each. Poland "is going to be looked to to be a player," Ambassador Hill said. "Poland has a requirement set forth by NATO to field [fighter aircraft]. So this is not simply a matter of providing home defense for Poland. It's a matter of participating in NATO missions." Owning F-16s would allow Poland's air force to fit into NATO operations smoothly, Gen. Walters said. "My job in life is not to be a shill for U.S. companies." Indeed, a Lockheed win actually wouldn't provide that much more U.S. industrial benefit than if the Gripen is chosen, he noted. About a third of the plane -- produced by Sweden's Saab and Britain's BAE Systems -- is made in the United States. A paper used by U.S. officials to promote the sale also touts broad military benefits to flow from a Polish F-16 purchase. "Flying the same aircraft," it says, "leads to extensive cooperation between the U.S. and Polish air forces: training together, sharing common tactics and doctrine and working in coalitions together." But it nods indirectly at another big U.S. defense program: Flying the F-16, the paper says, would provide Poland with "a natural bridge to the F-35" -- the new Joint Strike Fighter that Lockheed is developing in Fort Worth for the U.S. and British militaries and those of several other close allies. No guarantee Despite such strong arguments, neither U.S. officials nor Lockheed are counting their Fighting Falcons before they're sold. "I'm always cautiously optimistic," Lockheed's Mr. Standridge said. "I'm also paranoid." For one thing, said industry analyst Mr. Aboulafia, while the F-16 is far more battle-tested than the Mirage or Gripen, those aren't bad airplanes. The Mirage, made by France's Dassault Aviation, is "a fantastic multirole, midweight fighter that had the incredible misfortune to be born at the same time as the F-16," he said. The Gripen, meanwhile, operational with Sweden's air force since 1997, has the advantage of being newer, Mr. Aboulafia said. Gen. Walters concedes that "the Gripen is a good airplane for what it's designed to do" -- defending Sweden's air space. "What it was not designed to do is the air-to-ground mission," he said. But factors other than the F-16's capability count, too -- such as what the neighbors think. Like Hungary and the Czech Republic, Poland is eager to join the European Union, and "they're under pressure from local countries to buy European," said defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute. "It's an incredibly politicized fighter buy, even by Central European standards," Mr. Aboulafia agreed. The political considerations include a low national debt -- which can be problematic when acquiring big-ticket defense programs -- as a condition for joining the EU, and so-called offsets that act as economic sweeteners for the buyer. In an offset, the selling company pledges to generate enough economic activity elsewhere in the host country to cover some or all of the purchase cost. Cash-strapped Poland, with 17 percent unemployment, is requiring each entrant to offer enough offset deals to cover 100 percent of the contract. If Lockheed wins, the deal will rank in the middle among the company's long history of foreign F-16 sales. Israel is buying 102 F-16s, for instance, and the United Arab Emirates has ordered 80. But after losing out in Hungary and the Czech Republic, Poland looms large for Lockheed and U.S. officials trying to help cement the deal, according to an industry official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We're 0-for-2 on the last NATO sales," this official said. "That's why everybody's at battle stations." By Richard Whittle __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? 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