Where did you read this? Last I heard, the Jacksonville factory would be a full fledged production facility with 70% of all parts made in the US, not just a knockdown kit assembly plant.
I saw where they said they would assemle the aircraft in Jacksonville.
Now I am reading where something like 60 US companies would provide parts to that assembly line.
That’s fine if those parts all stay in the US.
My principle concern howerver is the fact that you have Brazil providing military aircraft (in fact 40 of the older Tucano’s) to Iran, and more recently cozing up to Ian and helping them with their nuclear program and dealings with Turkey.
To have the aircraft that our allies will use to fight with designed and provided to the US by a country that is working with one of the principle potential enemies of those allies, IRan, does not make any sense.
I have also heard that there is talk of a potential tie between the award of this contract and the Brazilians looking harder at the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet for their new FX-2 fighter. Now that is starting to sound like the political leverage the Brazilians are wielding.
Just the same, my concerns over the use of aircraft by our allies from a source growing close to the very enemies thay may have to face is not a good thing.