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Brazil's F-X2 deadline sparks war of words
Robert Hewson
Jane's Air-Launched Weapons Editor
Oct 06, 2009
London
The Brazilian government's notional selection of France as its F-X2 future fighter supplier has been received with mixed reactions.
Embraer was this week forced to issue a statement contradicting the chief of its own defence sector business, who singled out the Swedish Gripen bid as the only one that offered full technology transfer and industrial control to Brazil.
The three F-X2 competitors submitted their Best and Final Offers (BAFOs) to the Brazilian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 2 October. The deadline for submissions was extended by two weeks, into October, when the F-X2 process was thrown into confusion by President Lula da Silva's September announcement that France would win the competition.
A final, formal decision on the F-X2 winner could come as soon as 23 October, when Brazil's air force celebrates Aviation Day.
In an interview with Brazil's Valor Econômico financial newspaper on 28 September, Orlando José Ferreira Neto, executive vice-president for the defence market at Embraer, said he thought the Gripen deal offered the best return for Brazil.
"We have assessed the three offers by request of the Brazilian Air Force and we saw that the Swedish Saab offer is the one that will ensure knowledge and technology aggregation for Brazil within the 'on the job doing' premise, meaning learning by doing it. We are not interested in manufacturing parts. We seek mastering the knowledge that we do not have and that will be useful for us to develop future aircraft," he said.
Neto's comments echo what he told Jane's during a visit to Embraer's São José dos Campos headquarters in April. Then Neto noted that both the Dassault Rafale and Boeing Super Hornet were effectively finished products, requiring little or no future development.
He also cited strong concerns about US technology transfer policy, saying: "Tech transfer is a big problem because by law each piece requires a 'yes or no' decision by Congress on a case-by-case basis. For an air force that wants to be independent this may be an impediment."
On the Gripen, Neto told Jane's : "The Gripen NG is a brand new development. There is not an NG aircraft yet and it will take a lot of engineering and highly qualified work to turn the demo aircraft into the NG. So the strength of the Gripen offer is technology transfer. Of course development has its own risk, but the best training is not in the classroom, it's doing it on the job."
Following Neto's Brazilian newspaper interview Embraer was forced to issue a statement the next day stating: "Embraer clarifies that it is not directly participating in the selection process of the new F-X2 fighter for the Brazilian Air Force and, contrary to what was stated, it has no preference among the proposals presented."
The Swedish Gripen team has enlisted UK government support for its F-X2 bid, based on the return for UK industry that the Gripen provides. An initial batch of 36 Gripens for Brazil would have GBP200 million (USD319 million) of UK content and the expected order for at least 100 aircraft over 15 years would see that figure rise to over GBP1 billion. For this reason Saab has had UK government support from the highest levels for its F-X2 bid.
The issue of national control over technology remains a central issue in Brazil. Dassault has made much of the fact that only it has a package sourced completely from a single home nation.
In fact, Dassault is in the uncomfortable position of relying on Swedish suppliers for some key combat systems including the Mica BVR missile datalink and the laser rangefinder in Rafale's OSF sensor fit.
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