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Israel Aircraft Industries has won a contract worth $300 million to build an airborne refueling system for Boeing 767-300 planes of the Brazilian Air Force. IAI beat out several companies in the U.S. and Europe to win the contract. In an interview, Yossi Weiss, IAI's Chairman, said that many companies were filing tenders for contracts like the one IAI won, in countries all over the world. IAI was grateful for the opportunity to work with the Brazilian Air Force, he said, and very proud of having come out ahead of some of the biggest aviation companies in the world. The...

Plans to procure a new advanced combat aircraft for the Brazilian Air Force (Forca Aerea Brasileira - FAB), originally launched in the late 1990s, are facing a new delay, sources in Sao Paulo have confirmed to Jane's. The final decision on which platform will be chosen to fulfil the FAB's F-X2 competition for an initial batch of 36 fighters was supposed to have been made before President Luiz Inazio Lula da Silva left office at the end of 2010. However, with Lula out of office his successor, President Dilma Rousseff, wants to place the approximately USD5 billion programme on hold...

New Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has decided to delay awarding a multi-billion dollar Air Force jet contract and reevaluate the finalists' bids, in a move that could signal a realignment of Brazil's strategic and defense alliances, sources with knowledge of the decision told Reuters. The surprise decision is a blow to France's Dassault, which as recently as last month looked like a lock to quickly win the deal, and puts its U.S.-based rival Boeing back in with a chance. Rousseff's predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, had while in office repeatedly expressed his preference for Dassault's bid to build at...

The first P-3 Orion aircraft modified by Airbus Military for the Brazilian Air Force was inspected today by Brazilian Minister of Defence, Nelson Jobim, during his official visit to Spain. The aircraft is the first of a fleet of nine which will undergo a complete systems modernization programme, including the installation of Airbus Military´s Fully Integrated Tactical System (FITS). As well as FITS, the aircraft will benefit from a powerful new suite of mission sensors, communications systems, and upgraded cockpit avionics. The engines are being updated and, depending on the condition of each individual aircraft, the structures are being renovated...

A decision by Brazil to buy 36 modern fighter jets was to take a step closer Monday when president-elect Dilma Rousseff was to ask current Defense Minister Nelson Jobim to stay on in her team to see the deal through, media reported. They were to formalize an agreement made during Rousseff's campaigning ahead of elections October 31 that Jobim would remain in his job for at least the next two years, the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper said. Brazil's defense ministry did not immediately respond to AFP's requests for confirmation of the information. Rousseff takes over as president from her...

The Brazilian Air Force has received the first three Mi-35M transport and combat helicopters. The handing-over ceremony and a military parade in this connection took place at the Brazilian air base of Porto Velho in the southwestern Amazon region on Saturday. A Russian delegation headed by Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev participated in the ceremony. Rosoboronexport’s director-general Anatoly Isaikin and the Rostvertol Rostov-based helicopter plant’s director-general Boris Slyusar also arrived at the base. Brazil's representatives were Defence Minister Nelson Jobim and the Air Force commander in chief. Rosoboronexport concluded the contract in 2008 to supply Russian transport and combat...

Adding to acrimony over a lucrative defense deal, Brazilian prosecutors have agreed to probe a multibillion-dollar contest for the sale of advanced combat aircraft to the Latin American nation. The deal, expected to replenish Brazil's aging fleet of fighters, has pit aerospace giants from France, the United States and Sweden -- all eyeing to expand the reach of their defense exports in a heated contest for the sale of 36 combat aircraft to Brazil. The probe stems from what a prosecution source claims to be an unfair preference of France's Rafale combat aircraft despite its steep price tag. Aerospace giants...

A multi-billion-dollar deal to supply Brazil with sophisticated fighter jets was in its high-stakes final phase Wednesday, with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva under intense pressure ahead of his decision. Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Defense Minister Sten Tolgfors called on Lula in Brasilia to make an ultimate push for Swedish aircraft to win out over French and US rivals in the tender. Brazilian officials say the contest should be decided by the end of next week. Lula has already expressed a strong preference for France's Rafale jet in the competition. But he said after his meeting with...

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...

Brazil will likely designate the winner of a multi-billion-dollar tender to supply its air force with modern jet fighters by the end of March, the head of the service, General Juniti Saito, said Tuesday. Saito stressed that it would be a "political and strategic decision" made by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, following the air force's technical evaluation of the three bids. France's Rafale, an omnirole fighter made by Dassault, is seen as the leading contender after Lula and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said last September that negotiations were underway for Brazil to buy 36 of them. Lula said...