U.S. Saw Opportunities In Bolstering Brazil's Military: Cables
BRZIL - The United States saw big opportunities in helping Brazil boost its military capabilities
as a way of "supporting U.S. interests," diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks showed Dec. 1.
Two documents, sent in January 2009 by then-ambassador Clifford Sobel, predicted that a new Brazilian defense strategy drafted the year before by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government would "lead to Brazil becoming a more effective security partner."
The strategy could build a more capable military force that "can support U.S. interests by exporting stability in Latin America and be available for peacekeeping elsewhere," Sobel wrote.
Plans to use technology and defense acquisitions to monitor Brazil's vast, unpopulated Amazon jungle "create opportunities for U.S. business to partner with Brazilian counterparts and for the U.S. armed forces to engage in increased cooperation as Brazil's military seeks to modernize," Sobel wrote.
The diplomat underscored the opportunities for "strategic partnerships primarily in terms of defense trade and technology transfer," but stressed the possibility of "real security cooperation in areas of mutual interest."
Sobel also alluded however to the coolness Lula's government reserved for the United States, saying "engagement with Brazil will increase only gradually, particularly while the current government is in power."
He also voiced skepticism at Brazil's ambitions to acquire its first nuclear submarine and possibly introduce universal military service, calling the ideas "grandiose" and "black holes to suck in all available resources."
Brazil is in the process of overhauling its outmoded defense forces.
It has signed a contract to buy five submarines from France, one of which it will outfit with a nuclear engine.
It is also expected to announce soon the winner of a tender to supply it with a fleet of 36 sophisticated fighter jets.
The competitors for that contract, which could be worth up to seven billion dollars, are U.S. company Boeing, which is offering its F/A-18 fighter, France's Dassault, with its Rafale jet, and Sweden's Saab, promoting its Gripen NG.
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