Sarkozy to Brazil with fighter jet bid looming

French President Nicolas Sarkozy left Sunday for Brazil with hopes of persuading officials there to choose French-made fighter jets in a hot competition with U.S. and Swedish rivals.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva invited Sarkozy to begin his two-day trip with dinner Sunday evening and as a special guest Monday to Brazil’s independence day celebrations, in which French Foreign Legion troops are to take part.

But the focus of Sarkozy’s visit – just weeks before the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh on Sept. 24-25 – was expected to be on economic issues, including industrial contracts up for grabs in Brazil’s promising market.

France wants first to step up defense ties, while boosting civilian sector trade over the longer term, an official with the French presidential palace said Friday.

Though no major trade deals were expected this week, France would back Dassault Aviation’s bid for the contract to build 36 fighter planes for Brazil’s air force, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of palace rules.

The deal would be key for Dassault, which has not yet had a foreign buyer for its Rafale.

The Rafale is one of three planes in competition for the Brazilian contract, along with Chicago-based Boeing’s F-18 Super Hornet and Saab’s Gripen NG.

Brazil’s air force has not given a price tag for the 36 jets, which it hopes to have delivered by 2014. But the private Agencia Estado news service said it could be between $2.2 billion and $2.5 billion. The total number of jets ordered could also increase up to 100.

Brazil is looking to modernize its air force and replace its current Mirage 2000, F-5M and A-1M fleet – though another priority is to achieve technology transfer and have some plane components produced at home.

“These talks are on the right track. We have a relationship of confidence,” Silva said in an interview broadcast Sunday on TV5 Monde television, referring to France. He said he would meet with the national defense chief and discuss the issue in coming days.

“For us, the purchase of this fighter plane has a sacred component for Brazil: technology transfer, and the possibility to produce some of this plane in Brazil,” he said in comments translated from Portuguese into French. A network spokesman said the interview was recorded Thursday.

French daily Le Monde, which participated in the interview, quoted the Brazilian leader as suggesting the French bid had a “comparative advantage” over those of its rivals.

“The country that will be best placed to meet our conditions will have the best chance – and you know which country that I’m talking about,” Silva was quoted in the paper’s Sunday-Monday edition as saying while reportedly smiling.

The Swedish-built Gripen is in service with the Swedish, Czech, Hungarian and South African air forces. Washington backs Boeing’s bid.

Brazil’s Senate on Thursday sealed a $8.7 billion (euro6.1 billion) arms and technology transfer deal signed in December in which France will help Brazil build 50 helicopters and Latin America’s first nuclear-propelled submarine.

Sarkozy, with a half-dozen government ministers in tow, will also press France’s case for contracts in aerospace and transportation – notably over a planned high-speed train line between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

The two leaders have put an emphasis on warm personal chemistry and France’s status as the only European Union member with a border with Brazil: French Guiana sits north of South America’s largest country.

Under Sarkozy, France also has backed efforts for Brazil to obtain a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Both countries have also shared grief over the loss in June of Air France Flight 447, with 228 people on board. The Airbus A330 disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean during a Rio de Janiero-to-Paris flight.

First lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy will not take part in the 21-hour trip – the French president’s fourth bilateral meeting with Silva this year. France’s first couple reportedly vacationed at a beach resort in northeastern Brazil late last year.