The first six supersonic Jas-39 Gripen fighter jets leased from Sweden
by the Czech Republic arrived in the country on Monday, the Defence
Ministry has said. Eight more are to join the Czech air force by the
end of August. The Gripens will be leased for 10 years at a cost of
almost 20 billion crowns (850 million dollars), after which the country
has an option to buy them or return them to Sweden. The planes will
gradually replace the obsolete soviet MiG-21s. The deal, signed in June
2004, commits Sweden to investing 130 percent of the contract's value
in so called "off-sets" in the Czech Republic, 20 percent of which will
be direct investments in the Czech economy. The lease of the Gripens
was approved by former Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla's government last
June.