Finalists in Brazil fighter jet bid all pass muster: air force

AFP ^ | 3/18/2010 | AFP

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

All three fighter jets vying to be picked for a multi-billion-dollar contract to supply the Brazilian air force have passed a technical evaluation, news reports said Thursday.

The foreign companies competing to supply Brazil's air force with 36 new fighter jets are France's Dassault with its Rafale fighter; Sweden's Saab with the Gripen NG aircraft; and US-based Boeing with the F/A-18 Super Hornet.

The O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper reported that the air force said in a report delivered to the defense ministry that all of the contenders met its specifications.

It added that the decision on who would win the lucrative bid to replace Brazil's fleet of aging fighter jets would be made by the country's political leaders, not the military.

Air force and defense ministry officials contacted by AFP declined to comment on the news report.

Brazilian Air Force General Juniti Saito said last month that Brazil likely would make its pick known in late March, but did not set a date.

Saito stressed it would be a "political and strategic decision" made by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Analysts believe France's Rafale is the leading contender after Lula and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said last September that negotiations were underway for Brazil to buy 36 of them.

[MSF BU]

Has Sweden ever marketed their plane outside of the country? Is a Saab jet in any way competitive with what the US, UK, French or Russians can produce?

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The aircraft(JAS 39 Gripen) is in service with the Czech Air Force, the Hungarian Air Force and the South African Air Force, and has been ordered by the Royal Thai Air Force.

[Red6]

Hungary, Austria........ some others have bought or operated Swede jets.

[Red6]

beat me to it.

[Red6]

It's a smaller lighter cheaper to support and maintain jet. It uses a lot of off the shelf parts, spin offs from the F18 or Harrier........ A delta wing, one engine........ it's designed to control costs in all aspects. Of all the options, the Swede is the “budget” solution among the Western options but also the weakest contender nearly across the board. The likelihood of running into supply problems with parts etc is low. You'll still have NATO and Western capatability with the Swede......... It's the low end solution.

[Red6]

The question is what Brazil wants to do with this jet?

[bunkerhill7]

The JAS 39 Gripen is available at Wal-Mart for only 3,678 kronas. Use your Wal-Mart card and a big shopping cart.

[Red6]

Not every jet is made with the goal of over-match in air to air against anything there is, ability to deal with present and emerging double digit SAMs (SA10, SA12, etc.), the ability to escort the B2 and not compromise him................ Not everyone can afford an F22 with super cruise, true stealth, a massive AESA with more tubes, side looking, with over 2 million lines of code, thrust vectoring, near 70K thrust.......... Some are budget conscious, and not every airframe requires the level of performance of an F22. The old A4 served many well all the way into the 90s in those roles they used the jet. The Swede is simply put the cheapest solution but also the least performing of these multi-role jets.

[MSF BU]

Also an excellent question; why do they need a fleet of fighters to begin with? Is Brazil going to war any time soon? Are they fearful of being invaded?

[Yo-Yo]

This guy has been seen lurking in the neighborhood.

[Red6]

Because Latin/South America is such a stable nice place with people like Castro, Chavez, Che, Pinochet............ that just want to “get along.”