Main headlines from this issue

Switzerland: Europe’s last citadel prepares for wide-ranging Swedish benefits

Switzerland, almost alone among European countries unencumbered by EC injunctions, has clinched a major offset commitment from Saab. The Swedish firm will undertake direct and indirect offset commitments to Switzerland equivalent to 100 percent of supply contract value for the delivery of 22 Gripen combat aircraft.

Transparency International exposes corruption risk in government offset processes

Thirty percent of governments that use offsets fail to impose any due diligence or auditing requirements on their contracts. Transparency concerning the contracts is very restricted at best in 60 percent of these countries while the financing package.....

India: DPP 2013 will be released by April

India’s MoD is still in the process of revising its Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), said India’s Defence Minister AK Antony. The revised DPP will apply from the next financial year, beginning April 1st.

South Africa: Arms deal judge loses patience as offset inquiry nears

A war of words is breaking out between members of South Africa’s Commission of Inquiry into the country’s 1990s arms deal involving Judge Willie Seriti, head of the commission, Terry Crawford-Browne, the activist whose crusade against corruption brought the commission about, and Norman Moabi, a dissenting member.

RUSI: India’s offset policy has “acute problem with regulatory environment”

If India wishes to use offsets to create a strong indigenous defence industry it needs to foster a transparent and streamlined regulatory environment, says the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British independent think tank engaged in defence and security research.