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[Simpleton]

Tuesday, March 27th 2012 - 12:49 UTC
Brazil and India discussing military accord based on the French Rafale fighter jet


President Dilma Rousseff plans to use her New Delhi visit later this week to sound out Indian leaders on the French Rafale fighter jet, which she is considering buying to beef up Brazil's air force.

On Wednesday/Thursday Rousseff is to attend the New Delhi summit of the BRICS (Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa) nations aiming to discuss increased cooperation among the five emerging powers, including the establishment of their own development bank.

The next day Rousseff will begin a state visit in India, and officials say the Rafale, which India has selected for its air force, will be a top agenda item.

The Rafale, made by French firm Dassault, is in competition with the F/A-18 Super Hornet, manufactured by US aviation giant Boeing, and Swedish manufacturer Saab's Gripen jet, for a Brazilian contract for 36 aircraft valued at 4 to 7 billion dollars.

“The exchange of ideas, impressions” on the Rafale “is certainly beneficial for us,” Maria Edileuza Fonteneles Reis, a senior Brazilian foreign ministry official, said last week.

“India's decision, which has not yet been formalized, could have an impact on Brazil's choice because it would show that the Rafale, which so far has never been exported to another country, has one customer,” said Nelson During, a respected Brazilian defence experts who runs the Defesanet website.

“It could resurrect an old project debated by the two countries in 2002 to join hands to produce the same plane,” he added.

Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim travelled to India in February to discuss prospects for a “technical military accord.”

“It's extremely interesting that the two countries are discussing a military accord” since each country could complement each other in the industrial sector, said During, recalling that India and Brazil plan to modernize their fighter jet fleet and develop a nuclear submarine.

A senior Brazilian government source said Rousseff will decide on which fighter jet to choose after her trip to India, her visit to Washington in April, and the French presidential election in May.

Rousseff also plans to commit to boosting bilateral trade with India from 9.2 billion dollars last year to 15 billion by 2015, Reis said.

The two countries have developed closer ties since the creation of the IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa) forum, launched in 2003 to boost South-South cooperation ties.

[Simpleton]

Brazil close to jet fighter decision: minister

Published: 1 Apr 12 07:21 CET

Brazil is in the "final chapters" of making a decision to award a lucrative jet fighter deal, the defence minister Celso Amorim said on Saturday.

Amorim indicated that the decision could be expected within a few months.

Swedish manufacturer Saab's Gripen jet fighter is up against the Rafale fighter, made by French firm Dassault Aviation and US aviation giant Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet for a tender from Brazil to supply 36 multi-role combat aircraft.

The contract has been variously valued at between $4 billion and $7 billion.

"We are entering the final chapters," Amorim told the magazine Istoe. "I have an expectation that the matter can be resolved in this semester (first half of the year)," he said.

A senior Brazilian government source said Monday that President Dilma Rousseff would decide which fighter jet to buy after a visit to Washington in April and the French presidential election in May.

Amorim has previously said June is a likely date for the announcement.

Last year, Brazil delayed a decision on the purchase following a major budget cut, but the jets are needed to beef up the country's air force.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said before a visit to Brazil in December last year that he was confident the Rafale could beat off rival bids because the aircraft's technology was superior.

The Rafale was used in the recent war in Libya but the fighter has repeatedly lost out in tenders in countries including Singapore, South Korea, Morocco, and earlier this month, Switzerland.

India has selected the Rafale for its air force, but a deal has not yet been formalized.

French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet said last year that unless the Rafale can find a foreign buyer, the government will have to stop funding its production by Dassault.

AFP/The Local (news@thelocal.se)

[Simpleton]

Brazil to get tech transfer with US jets: Panetta
By Jordi Zamora (AFP) – 9 hours ago

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Brazil will get US advanced technology transfers if it buys Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet to upgrade its air force, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said here Wednesday.

The F/A-18 Super Hornet is competing against the Rafale fighter, made by French firm Dassault Aviation, and Swedish manufacturer Saab's Gripen for Brazil's contract for 36 next-generation fighter jets valued at between $4 billion and $7 billion.

Brazil, Latin America's dominant power and the world's sixth largest economy, is now insisting on technology transfer in all its defense agreements.
In a clear sign of Washington's desire to win the lucrative contract, Panetta said: "This offer, which has the strong support of the US Congress, contains an unprecedented advanced technology sharing that is reserved for only our closest allies and partners."

"This offer is about much more than providing Brazil with the best fighter available," he added in an address to a military academy. "With the Super Hornet, Brazil's defense and aviation industries would be able to transform their partnerships with US companies, and they would have the best opportunity to plug into worldwide markets."

On its first visit to Brazil since he was appointed in June last year, Panetta held talks with his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim in Brasilia Tuesday.
The two inaugurated the new Defense Cooperation Dialogue agreed during President Dilma Rousseff's recent visit to Washington.

Amorim made clear after meeting Panetta that Brasilia's main interest was securing technology transfer from the new alliance proposed by Washington.
In addition to technology transfers, Brasilia also wants some of the jet fighters to be assembled in this country, which according to analysts might favor the Rafale.

In a related development, France's Rafale International consortium signed three agreements with southern Brazilian firms to broaden its technological cooperation if Brasilia picks the Rafale, Jean-Marc Merialdo, head of Dassault's Brazilian unit, said.

"We are taking another step to broaden our cooperation," he told AFP from Porto Alegre.

Since late 2010, the consortium has already organized four seminars in several Brazilian cities to widen its range of partners should the Rafale be selected for Brazil's air force upgrade.

France is offering full technology transfers in its bid to win the contract.

Meanwhile, Brasilia was irked by the US cancelation of a $380 million contract with Embraer to buy 20 AT-29 Super Tucano aircraft from Embraer for the Afghan army.

Embraer and its US partner Sierra Nevada were awarded the contract in December but the US Air Force called off the deal in February after a legal challenge from rival Hawker Beechcraft Corp.

The Pentagon has called for a new round of bidding for the contract, but in any case, the equipment will not be delivered before 2014.

Panetta also said Washington welcomed Brazil's rise as a global power.

"This is a relationship between two global powers, and we welcome Brazil's growing strength. We support Brazil as a global leader and seek closer defense cooperation," he noted.

"We won't agree on every matter -- no two countries, not even the closest allies, ever do. But I do believe that our common interests are so great, and the possibilities that come from our cooperation are so tangible, that we must seize this opportunity to build a stronger defense partnership for the future," Panetta said here.

The Brazilian-US dialogue is also meant to resolve other issues such as the US decision in 2008 to reactivate its Fourth Fleet in the South Atlantic, a strategic and resource-rich area where regional countries do not want any external military presence.

Panetta on Monday began his first Latin America tour in Colombia and was also to visit Chile after Brazil in a bid to boost military cooperation and regional security ties.