Transparency International Defence and Security reports that nearly three-quarters of the world’s largest defence companies show little to no commitment to tackling corruption. Offsets, the organisation says, represent one of their most opaque practices. Only one contractor, Bechtel Corporation, widely regarded as a construction company, is in its top-ranking Band A under the offset section.
Noemi Liebermann, the acting head of Israel’s ICA, described first an ideal, long-term, offset relationship, then explained the long and difficult path to creating one. Boeing has performed its obligations so well and is so interested in expanding its “umbrella of investment”... Many of the Chinese companies, though, struggled to find suppliers; they lacked experience working with local companies; and they also often misunderstood their obligations.
Covid-19 has forced contractors and buyers around the world to take another look at their contracts. In April last year, Turkey recognised the epidemic as grounds for contractors delaying deliveries. Suppliers could apply for extensions of four to five months to their delivery times. Now, though, contractors in Turkey are facing a new kind of force majeure: the effect of sanctions—and this time, Turkey might not be so forgiving...
It’s been little more than four months since India’s Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 (DAP 2020) came into force and already experts are suggesting improvements. KPMG urges the Indian government to reconsider the “impact of a dwindling offset market on the Indian industry.”
The government of Thailand will allow the country’s Defence Technology Institute to form joint ventures with private companies. “Privileges will help attract foreign investors to establish factories in the new defence industrial estate,”