Sweden ups bid for Brazil jets

Sweden’s entry, through Saab AB, centers on the supersonic Gripen aircraft, while France’s Dassault has offered the Rafale and Boeing the F-18 Super Hornet.
by Staff Writers

Heating a highly coveted fighter jet deal, Sweden has bid to sell 36 warplanes to Brazil at nearly half the price of competing U.S. and French models.

The Swedish bid also affords Brazil full access to the technology used in the state-of-the-art military aircraft and allows the South American country to upgrade the planes as needed, the Latin American Herald Tribune reported Monday.

Sweden’s sweetener follows similar pitches by France’s Dassault. The United States is also jostling to win the lucrative fighter jet contract as Brazil moves to modernize its air force in a bid to become the leading military power in Latin America.

Sweden’s entry, through Saab AB, centers on the supersonic Gripen aircraft, while France’s Dassault has offered the Rafale and Boeing the F-18 Super Hornet.

“Sweden can offer a program of joint development of an airplane with (Brazilian aircraft manufacturer) Embraer that has its principal characteristic the capacity to adapt the specific necessities to each user,” Stockholm’s Deputy Defense Minister Hakan Jevrell was quoted saying by the Latin American Herald Tribune.

He said the Swedish government was totally committed to technology transfer and that Stockholm preferred “strategic partners” than mere customers.

There was no reference to the overall price that Saab AB would charge Brazil for the Gripen jets, but Jevrell said Sweden was prepared to provide “quite favorable financing” in clinching the deal, estimated at between $4 billion and $7.3 billion.

Brazilian officials have not said how much they intend to spend, although French officials have said that the deal could be worth as much as $7.3 billion.

All three major aerospace contenders have until Monday to present their final proposals.

Even so, Brazilian officials appear to be locked in a deal with the French.

Earlier this month, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy issued a joint statement on negotiations to buy 36 of Dassault’s Rafale jets. Lula however later clarified that the statement “did not imply that the contract had been awarded to France,” the Latin American Herald Tribune said.

“The air force has the technological know-how to make the evaluation, and it will do so,” Lula said. “But the decision is political and strategic, and it’s up to the president of the republic and no one else.”

Brasilia has already signed a deal with France for the construction of five submarines in Brazil. The deal also includes the development of a nuclear-powered vessel.