Brazil extends jet fighter bidding process 2 weeks

Brazil’s air force said on Monday it has extended until Oct. 2 the deadline for companies to present improved bids in the tender for the country’s next generation fighter jets.

Sweden’s Saab had requested the deadline be extended from this Monday, Sept. 21, the air force said in a statement. The other two finalists in the bidding process are France’s Dassault Aviation and the U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co.

Brazil is seeking a generous technology transfer offer and local assembly as part of a contract to buy 36 jet fighters. The deal could eventually rise to more than 100 aircraft.

Latin America’s largest country has signed a strategic defense alliance with France, and the government has expressed preference for Dassault’s Rafale plane.

But since the visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in early September, Swedish and U.S. officials have tried to sway decision-makers in Brazil in favor of Saab’s Gripen and Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, respectively.

Sweden and the United States say they also authorized the full transfer of technology and the assembly of aircraft in Brazil.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the air force would analyze the proposals from a technological standpoint but that the final decision was his and that it would be political and strategic.