Brazil MMRCA contest.

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John

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Brazil weighs French, US, Swedish fighter jet contract bids

Sao Paulo: The United States, France and Sweden are on the threshold of finding out which will be chosen to supply Brazil with modern fighter jets in a much-anticipated deal worth billions.

Brasilia is expected to announce in September which shortlisted company -- Boeing of the United States, Dassault of France, or Saab of Sweden -- will supply 36 combat aircraft to replace Brazil's aging fleet of 12 French-made Mirage-2000 jets.

The procurement is part of a 15-billion-dollar plan by Latin America's biggest economy to update and expand its military capabilities to face 21st century threats in the region, and to protect precious resources in its vast territory.

France's Rafale F3 fighter is seen as the favorite of Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, in large part because it is the only bid that includes an offer to share technology with Brazil.

The Latin American country is keen to give its own Embraer aircraft-making group the knowledge needed to make its own high-tech fighters in the future.

But the Rafale is also the most expensive by far of the offers on the table, the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper noted Sunday.

The newspaper said the estimated price-per-plane of the Rafale is around 130 million dollars, not including weapons and support.

Boeing's multi-role F/A-18 Super Hornet, estimated at 90 million dollars per unit, is used by many US-allied air forces around the world.

But Brazil has taken note of the US Congress' ability to veto military technology and support, as it did with Venezuela when US relations with the country soured, forcing Caracas to turn to Russia for aircraft and tanks.

Sweden's Gripen NG is the cheapest of the bids, at around 60 million dollars per plane, but it is the least powerful of the three -- and no prototype for it exists yet.

The value of the total fighter jet contract is between two and four billion dollars, depending on which bid is chosen, and will include five years of logistics and support, and a supply of air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles and bombs. Deliveries are to start in 2014.

Brazil's air force is to give its evaluation of the three offers to Jobim in the next few days, Folha de S. Paulo said.

The report will highlight the pros and cons of each plane without excluding any of them, military officials and sources close to the tender process told the daily.

The countries and companies competing have actively wooed Brazil.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to attend Brazil's Independence Day celebrations in Brasilia on September 7. In December last year, he signed deals worth 11 billion dollars to supply Brazil with four Scorpene submarines and 51 Cougar military transport helicopters.

The leader of the French senate, Gerard Larcher, in June also stressed to Brazilian lawmakers that technology-transfer was part of the relationship between their two countries.

Boeing, meanwhile, has reportedly offered to use Brazilian suppliers for some of the F/A-18's components if it wins the contract.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US military, Admiral Mike Mullen, also visited Brazil in March for talks with Jobim on the tender and other military issues.

Brazil weighs French, US, Swedish fighter jet contract bids | Air Force News at DefenceTalk

At current $130 million per aircraft for Rafale excluding weapons and support, we can be sure the Rafale will have a major disadvantage in the MRCA. Not to mention we'll be going for the F-4 Rafale even if go for it plus new weapons integrations, understanding its source codes would delay it miserably and will end up being well over $140 million per aircraft for us.
 
J

John

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U.S. Offers Technology To Win Brazil Fighter Deal

BRASILIA - The U.S. is prepared to make an unprecedented offer to transfer technology behind its F/A-18 fighter jets to Brazil to score a multi-billion-dollar contract, U.S. officials said Aug. 5.

U.S. State Department under-secretary for arms control Ellen Tauscher and Pentagon acquisition and technology chief Ashton Carter said they outlined the proposal to Brazilian officials on Aug. 4 and 5.

Accompanied in Brasilia by President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Marine Gen. Jim Jones, they said the technology transfer was part of a final gambit to try to persuade Brazil's air force to buy 36 new combat aircraft.

The deal is worth up to an estimated $4 billion and involves delivering the aircraft from 2014 to replace Brazil's aging fleet of 12 French-made Mirage-2000 jets.

"The transfer... would be something that we had never done before, and specifically because the relation with Brazil is so prized, so significant for us," Tauscher told reporters.

She stressed that the move would be a "big departure from what the U.S. typically does" when it exports sophisticated weaponry, and added that a decision would be made in the next 45 to 60 days.

Carter said: "We want to have a technology relationship with Brazil that gets deeper and deeper with the time. This is just the first step."

The offer appeared an attempt to blunt competing bids from France's Dassault, which was putting forward its advanced Rafale fighter, and Sweden's Saab, which was proposing its yet-to-be-built Gripen NG.

The Rafale, which has stealth-like technology and cutting-edge cockpit interfaces and threat detection, was seen as Brazil's favored choice, largely because France was offering full transfer of technology - the key demand in the tender.

Saab, too, has promised to share know-how with Brazil - even though the Gripen's engines were U.S.-designed and therefore subject to U.S. foreign military sales authorization.

It was not clear what technology the U.S. was prepared to share from the F/A-18, which was the oldest model aircraft on offer, having been flying since 1980.

One consideration, both for Brazil and for the U.S., was likely to be how the F/A-18 might stack up against Venezuela's air force should any future confrontation take place.

Venezuela recently purchased 24 Russian and Chinese-developed Su-30MK2s, a modern fighter considered to have superior performance over the U.S. plane.

U.S. Offers Technology To Win Brazil Fighter Deal - Defense News
 

venom

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Brazil issues 120-aircraft request to five fighter manufacturers

Brazil has revived its delayed search for a next-generation multirole combat aircraft, and in early June issued requests for information to five bidders for its new F-X2 contest. Its initial requirement is for a batch of 36 fighters, although the total programme is for 120 aircraft to be delivered from 2014 until post-2020.

Bidders for the new contest have been restricted to the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab Gripen NG (Next Generation) and the Sukhoi Su-35. The selected type will replace some of the Brazilian air force's Alenia/Embraer AMX ground-attack aircraft and its upgraded Northrop F-5 fighters, plus a recently acquired batch of ex-French air force Dassault Mirage 2000s.

Industry sources say the RFI requests the delivery of an "established, proven airframe" with supersonic performance, network connectivity and multirole capabilities. The document does not specify whether companies should offer an active electronically scanned array radar with the aircraft, but says both within- and beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles should be supplied.

The F-X2 programme also includes an offset requirement worth 100% of the total acquisition costs, with licensed manufacturing of the selected fighter's airframe, avionics and engines requested during the life of the programme.

Brazil's earlier F-X fighter contest was abandoned in 2005 due to budgetary pressures, and the replacement project had been tipped for launch early this year. However, the defence ministry's new shortlist will come as a disappointment to Lockheed, which was interested in offering its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Speaking earlier this month, Embraer officials said that unlike the previous contest, local industry will not be encouraged to partner directly with the bidding F-X2 companies, and that the Brazilian government and air force will instead head this part of the project.

Brazil issues 120-aircraft request to five fighter manufacturers
 
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John

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http://www.dsca.mil/PressReleases/36-b/2009/Brazil_09-35.pdf

Brazil – F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Aircraft
WASHINGTON, August 6, 2009 – Today the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Brazil of 28 F/A-18E Super Hornet Aircraft, eight F/A-18F Super Hornet Aircraft, 72 F414-GE-400 installed engines, a host of spare parts and munitions at an estimated value of $7.0 billion.
The Government of Brazil has requested proposals from several foreign suppliers, including the United States, to provide the next generation fighter for the Brazilian Air Force. In this “FX-2” competition, the Government of Brazil has yet to select the United States Navy-Boeing proposal. This notification is being made in advance of receipt of a letter of request so that, in the event that the US Navy-Boeing proposal is selected, the United States might move as quickly as possible to implement the sale. If the Government of Brazil selects the U.S. Navy-Boeing proposal, the Government of Brazil will request a possible sale of 28 F/A-18E Super Hornet Aircraft, eight F/A-18F Super Hornet Aircraft, 72 F414-GE-400 installed engines, four F414-GE-400 spare engines, 36 AN/APG-79 Radar Systems, 36 M61A2 20mm Gun Systems, 36 AN/ALR-67(V) three Radar Warning Receivers, 144 LAU-127 Launchers, 44 Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems (JHMCS), 28 AIM-120C-7 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM), 28 AIM-9M SIDEWINDER Missiles, 60 GBU-31/32 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM), 36 AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOW), 10 AGM-88B HARM Missiles, and 36 AN/ASQ-228 (V2) Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) Pods. Also included are 36 AN/ALQ-214 Radio Frequency Countermeasures. 40 AN/ALE-47 Electronic Warfare Countermeasures Systems, 112 AN/ALE-50 Towed Decoys, Joint Mission Planning System, support equipment, spare and repair parts, personnel training and training equipment, ferry and tanker support, flight test, software support, publications and technical documents, U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistics and program support.
This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic progress in South America.
Brazil needs these aircraft to meet current and future threats. The proposed sale of F/A-18E/F aircraft will enhance Brazil’s tactical aviation capabilities. An increase in capability will be accrued primarily due to the larger number of aircraft and the larger range and endurance of the F/A-18E/F. Brazil will have no difficulty absorbing these aircraft into its aircraft inventory.

All this for $7 billion, SH is indeed a gr8 buy.
 
J

John

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Rafale wins Brazil MMRCA contest.

Boeing, U.S. Woo Brazil With Technology For Defense Deal

SAO PAULO, Brazil - U.S. aerospace giant Boeing is proposing to transfer $1.5 billion in fighter jet technology to Brazil in a bid to score a contract for 36 combat aircraft, a top company executive said Monday.

The offer appear to be an attempt to blunt competing bids from France's Dassault, which is putting forward its advanced Rafale fighter, and Sweden's Saab, which is proposing its yet-to-be-built Gripen NG, to replace Brazil's aging fleet of 12 French-made Mirage-2000 jets and 50 U.S.-made F-5 aircraft.

The deal is estimated to be worth between $2 billion and $3 billion, Boeing said, and would involve delivering F/A-18 Super Hornets from 2014.

Brazil, which is set to announce the winning bid by the end of the month, could increase the order to a total of 120 aircraft by 2040.

"We believe that the $1.5 billion of technology we are going to give to our partnership here will make them a better industry for years to come," Boeing Executive Vice President James Albaugh told reporters in Sao Paulo.

The deal would be associated with materials and other support, he said, noting Brazil is seeking "a path to independence, to take care of the airplanes on their own."

The technology transfer is a "clear signal" to Brazil that the U.S. is backing the deal, Albaugh said.

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Ellen Tauscher and Pentagon acquisition and technology chief Ashton Carter said last week they had outlined the proposal to Brazilian officials.

Accompanied in Brasilia by President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Jim Jones, they said the technology transfer was part of a final gambit to try to persuade Brazil's air force to buy the new combat aircraft.

"We want to have a technology relationship with Brazil that gets deeper and deeper with the time," Carter said. "This is just the first step."

One consideration, both for Brazil and for the U.S., was likely to be how the F/A-18 might stack up against Venezuela's air force should any future confrontation take place.

Venezuela recently purchased 24 Russian and Chinese-developed Su-30MK2s, a modern fighter considered to have superior performance over the U.S. plane.

Boeing, U.S. Woo Brazil With Technology For Defense Deal - Defense News

looking at the $2- $3 billion fly away cost, the price of the SH for Brazil is around $55-$83 million.

Brazil weighs French, US, Swedish fighter jet contract bids

SAO PAULO — The United States, France and Sweden are on the threshold of finding out which will be chosen to supply Brazil with modern fighter jets in a much-anticipated deal worth billions.

Brasilia is expected to announce in September which shortlisted company -- Boeing of the United States, Dassault of France, or Saab of Sweden -- will supply 36 combat aircraft to replace Brazil's aging fleet of 12 French-made Mirage-2000 jets.

The procurement is part of a 15-billion-dollar plan by Latin America's biggest economy to update and expand its military capabilities to face 21st century threats in the region, and to protect precious resources in its vast territory.

France's Rafale F3 fighter is seen as the favorite of Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, in large part because it is the only bid that includes an offer to share technology with Brazil.

The Latin American country is keen to give its own Embraer aircraft-making group the knowledge needed to make its own high-tech fighters in the future.

But the Rafale is also the most expensive by far of the offers on the table, the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper noted Sunday.

The newspaper said the estimated price-per-plane of the Rafale is around 130 million dollars, not including weapons and support.

Boeing's multi-role F/A-18 Super Hornet, estimated at 90 million dollars per unit, is used by many US-allied air forces around the world.

But Brazil has taken note of the US Congress' ability to veto military technology and support, as it did with Venezuela when US relations with the country soured, forcing Caracas to turn to Russia for aircraft and tanks.

Sweden's Gripen NG is the cheapest of the bids, at around 60 million dollars per plane, but it is the least powerful of the three -- and no prototype for it exists yet.

The value of the total fighter jet contract is between two and four billion dollars, depending on which bid is chosen, and will include five years of logistics and support, and a supply of air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles and bombs. Deliveries are to start in 2014.

Brazil's air force is to give its evaluation of the three offers to Jobim in the next few days, Folha de S. Paulo said.

The report will highlight the pros and cons of each plane without excluding any of them, military officials and sources close to the tender process told the daily.

The countries and companies competing have actively wooed Brazil.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to attend Brazil's Independence Day celebrations in Brasilia on September 7. In December last year, he signed deals worth 11 billion dollars to supply Brazil with four Scorpene submarines and 51 Cougar military transport helicopters.

The leader of the French senate, Gerard Larcher, in June also stressed to Brazilian lawmakers that technology-transfer was part of the relationship between their two countries.

Boeing, meanwhile, has reportedly offered to use Brazilian suppliers for some of the F/A-18's components if it wins the contract.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US military, Admiral Mike Mullen, also visited Brazil in March for talks with Jobim on the tender and other military issues.

AFP: Brazil weighs French, US, Swedish fighter jet contract bids

The above article puts the fly away cost of Rafale at $130 million, The rafale doesn't cost 50 million euros, dream on. Besides the F-3 is not what we are looking for, our Rafale will cost more and i dont buy the Rafale being more tech advanced either, sure it has a newer airframe, good EW suite, good IRST and good aero performance besides that the Rafale falls in real combat effectiveness compared to the SH. The SH has LM's most advanced IRST, better AESA, can carry more A2A missiles and drop many more types of pgms and missiles at lower costs, has a newer engine, is far more network centric, its easier to fly and a really mature combat aircraft. Rafale remains an unproven aircraft just like the tiffy. Besides the SH already has upgrades being developed past 2020 with block 3.
 
J

John

Guest
yes same thoughts, when they can offer a lot of tech for Brazil, i am sure due to Rafale, mig coming with full-tot, just to win the SH will come with full-tot as well. due the size of the order and the future options i am sure US will play ball to win this deal. besides the current bids are valid for two years and by next year May the top 3 will be chosen and those will have to revise their bids and this is where i expect the US to give up the goods.
 

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French RAFALE for BRAZIL

Sarkozy to Brazil with fighter jet bid looming
Monday, 7 September 2009
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Paris, September 06: French President Nicolas Sarkozy left Sunday for Brazil with hopes of persuading officials there to choose French-made fighter jets in a hot competition with U.S. and Swedish rivals.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva invited Sarkozy to begin his two-day trip with dinner Sunday evening and as a special guest Monday to Brazil's independence day celebrations, in which French Foreign Legion troops are to take part.

But the focus of Sarkozy's visit — just weeks before the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh on Sept. 24-25 — was expected to be on economic issues, including industrial contracts up for grabs in Brazil's promising market.

France wants first to step up defense ties, while boosting civilian sector trade over the longer term, an official with the French presidential palace said Friday.

Though no major trade deals were expected this week, France would back Dassault Aviation's bid for the contract to build 36 fighter planes for Brazil's air force, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of palace rules.

The deal would be key for Dassault, which has not yet had a foreign buyer for its Rafale.

The Rafale is one of three planes in competition for the Brazilian contract, along with Chicago-based Boeing's F-18 Super Hornet and Saab's Gripen NG.

Brazil's air force has not given a price tag for the 36 jets, which it hopes to have delivered by 2014. But the private Agencia Estado news service said it could be between $2.2 billion and $2.5 billion. The total number of jets ordered could also increase up to 100.

Brazil is looking to modernize its air force and replace its current Mirage 2000, F-5M and A-1M fleet — though another priority is to achieve technology transfer and have some plane components produced at home.

"These talks are on the right track. We have a relationship of confidence," Silva said in an interview broadcast Sunday on TV5 Monde television, referring to France. He said he would meet with the national defense chief and discuss the issue in coming days.

"For us, the purchase of this fighter plane has a sacred component for Brazil: technology transfer, and the possibility to produce some of this plane in Brazil," he said in comments translated from Portuguese into French. A network spokesman said the interview was recorded Thursday.

French daily Le Monde, which participated in the interview, quoted the Brazilian leader as suggesting the French bid had a "comparative advantage" over those of its rivals.

"The country that will be best placed to meet our conditions will have the best chance — and you know which country that I'm talking about," Silva was quoted in the paper's Sunday-Monday edition as saying while reportedly smiling.

The Swedish-built Gripen is in service with the Swedish, Czech, Hungarian and South African air forces. Washington backs Boeing's bid.

Brazil's Senate on Thursday sealed a $8.7 billion (euro6.1 billion) arms and technology transfer deal signed in December in which France will help Brazil build 50 helicopters and Latin America's first nuclear-propelled submarine.

Sarkozy, with a half-dozen government ministers in tow, will also press France's case for contracts in aerospace and transportation — notably over a planned high-speed train line between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

The two leaders have put an emphasis on warm personal chemistry and France's status as the only European Union member with a border with Brazil: French Guiana sits north of South America's largest country.

Under Sarkozy, France also has backed efforts for Brazil to obtain a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Both countries have also shared grief over the loss in June of Air France Flight 447, with 228 people on board. The Airbus A330 disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean during a Rio de Janiero-to-Paris flight.

First lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy will not take part in the 21-hour trip — the French president's fourth bilateral meeting with Silva this year. France's first couple reportedly vacationed at a beach resort in northeastern Brazil late last year.

--Agencies

Sarkozy to Brazil with fighter jet bid looming | Siasat
 

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The Brazilian deal could be a pointer for the indian MMRCA deal as the players involved are more or less the same.

Also it would very interesting to see the time frame in which Brazil is able to seal the deal.
 

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Rafale wins Brazil MMRCA contest.

Rafale wins Brazilian order | StratPost

While the Brazilian contest also included the F-16, the Eurofighter and the Sukhoi-30 as well, these three aircraft were weeded out in the first round. Interestingly, except for the Sukhoi, five of the six contenders for the Brazilian order are also part of the race for the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) order of the Indian Air Force (IAF). “The Brazilians had a different structure for their contest, with initial evaluations and elimination of three aircraft in the first round and then technical evaluation in the second round. We came up on top in the technical evaluation in the second round,” said the source, also pointing out, “In India, all the six aircraft are being tried out in the same round. But the parameters of the technical evaluation (in the Brazilian contest and the Indian MMRCA race) are quite similar. ”

While the structure of the Brazilian contest was different from the way the MMRCA contest is structured, there seems to be little question that Rafale will now come into the MMRCA trials with the confident afterglow of a winner. “Of course, it is definitely a positive sign,” said the source, adding, “The Americans had been pointing out how the Rafale hasn’t been getting export orders, but we have won in Brazil on the basis of our technical evaluation. This has happened earlier with the Mirage as well.”
 

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Brazil to buy 36 Rafale fighter planes from France


Brasilia - Brazil is to buy 36 Rafale fighter planes made by French firm Dassault, Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Nicolas Sarkozy of France said in a joint statement Monday. The deal is reportedly worth around 4 billion dollars, but the exact costs were not made public.
Negotiations with Sweden for the Gripen plane, made by Saab, and with the United States for Boeing's F18 ended unsuccessfully, Brazil said.
The French bid was preferred because it was the only one that allowed for technology transfer to Brazil. Brazilian Defence Minister Nelson Jobim had stressed that this point was vital, since it would allow Brazil to build its own fighter planes in the future.
Lula and Sarkozy were also to finalize Monday in Brasilia another multi-billion-dollar deal for the purchase by the South American giant of four conventional submarines made by France, and for the joint development of a nuclear-powered submarine.
Sarkozy took part in celebrations to mark the anniversary of Brazil's independence on September 7, 1822.

Brazil to buy 36 Rafale fighter planes from France :
 

mig-29

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The brazilian order.


The French Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter aircraft has crawled superbly out from under its dreary and seemingly endless export virginity. Finally! According to international agency reports, Brazil will shortly announce an order for 36 Rafale fighter planes for its air force, a decision taken shortly after the visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to the country. The folks at Saint Cloud will be deeply chuffed by the fact that they edged out big-boy Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Sweden's Saab JAS-39 Gripen (and even the Lockheed-Martin F-16 Block 60 before the first downselect) from the high-stakes Brazilian competition. Obviously, it couldn't have come at a better time for Rafale, a fighter programme that has constantly had to convince potential customers -- including India -- that export experience is not necessarily a function of technical superiority.

Saurabh Joshi, Editor of Stratpost says, "There seems to be little question that Rafale will now come into the MMRCA trials with the confident afterglow of a winner." That's a fact, no matter which way you look at it. The Rafale campaign at the MMRCA is likely to get more aggressive now, and probably infused with a much-needed dose of confidence. The Brazilian order gives the Dassault India team a great deal of latitude, but no breathing space, since the competition in India is likely to be just as predicated on politico-economic considerations as it was in Brazil (the country has added very generously to France's military order books, including Scorpene submarines, and vice versa through France's decision to replace its C-130 transports with Embraer equivalents). The Rafale has ongoing competitions in Greece and the UAE as well. Will have to see how those go.

The Rafale begins flight test evaluations in Bangalore in a few weeks, for which Dassault will fly in three French Air Force Rafale-Bs from the Saint-Dizier base. The game is ON, people!


LiveFist - The Best of Indian Defence: Rafale's Cherry Popped! Brazilian Order Soon!
 

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Rafale wins Brazilian order | StratPost

While the Brazilian contest also included the F-16, the Eurofighter and the Sukhoi-30 as well, these three aircraft were weeded out in the first round. Interestingly, except for the Sukhoi, five of the six contenders for the Brazilian order are also part of the race for the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) order of the Indian Air Force (IAF). “The Brazilians had a different structure for their contest, with initial evaluations and elimination of three aircraft in the first round and then technical evaluation in the second round. We came up on top in the technical evaluation in the second round,” said the source, also pointing out, “In India, all the six aircraft are being tried out in the same round. But the parameters of the technical evaluation (in the Brazilian contest and the Indian MMRCA race) are quite similar. ”

While the structure of the Brazilian contest was different from the way the MMRCA contest is structured, there seems to be little question that Rafale will now come into the MMRCA trials with the confident afterglow of a winner. “Of course, it is definitely a positive sign,” said the source, adding, “The Americans had been pointing out how the Rafale hasn’t been getting export orders, but we have won in Brazil on the basis of our technical evaluation. This has happened earlier with the Mirage as well.”
Must be big party time for the French. They finally won their first export order.
I wish they could throw some light on the parameters of evaluation, and the area where the Rafale excelled above the rest.
 

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LiveFist - The Best of Indian Defence: Rafale's Cherry Popped! Brazilian Order Soon!
Rafale's Cherry Popped! Brazilian Order Soon!


The French Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter aircraft has crawled superbly out from under its dreary and seemingly endless export virginity. Finally! According to international agency reports, Brazil will shortly announce an order for 36 Rafale fighter planes for its air force, a decision taken shortly after the visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to the country. The folks at Saint Cloud will be deeply chuffed by the fact that they edged out big-boy Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Sweden's Saab JAS-39 Gripen (and even the Lockheed-Martin F-16 Block 60 before the first downselect) from the high-stakes Brazilian competition. Obviously, it couldn't have come at a better time for Rafale, a fighter programme that has constantly had to convince potential customers -- including India -- that export experience is not necessarily a function of technical superiority.

Saurabh Joshi, Editor of Stratpost says, "There seems to be little question that Rafale will now come into the MMRCA trials with the confident afterglow of a winner." That's a fact, no matter which way you look at it. The Rafale campaign at the MMRCA is likely to get more aggressive now, and probably infused with a much-needed dose of confidence. The Brazilian order gives the Dassault India team a great deal of latitude, but no breathing space, since the competition in India is likely to be just as predicated on politico-economic considerations as it was in Brazil (the country has added very generously to France's military order books, including Scorpene submarines, and vice versa through France's decision to replace its C-130 transports with Embraer equivalents). The Rafale has ongoing competitions in Greece and the UAE as well. Will have to see how those go.

The Rafale begins flight test evaluations in Bangalore in a few weeks, for which Dassault will fly in three French Air Force Rafale-Bs from the Saint-Dizier base. The game is ON, people!
 

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Brazil to acquire 36 ultra-modern Rafale fighter jets

BY : AFP

Brazil on Monday deepened its military relationship with France by announcing plans to acquire 36 ultra-modern Rafale fighter jets — along with the technology to build its own.
It will be the first foreign sale and a much-needed shot in the arm for the Rafales’ maker, Dassault Aviation, which hitherto had failed to find any international buyer for the plane.
The imminent contract, worth an estimated four to seven billion dollars, will supply Brazil’s air force for the next three decades and give it the most advanced multi-role combat aircraft in Latin America.
The public statement that talks had begun to seal the pact was issued on Brazil’s Independence Day by visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
“We are definitively consolidating a strategic partnership we started in 2005,” Lula said in a joint news conference in Brasilia.
The deal adds to 10 billion dollars’ worth of agreements Brazil has already struck with France to buy five submarines (one to be converted to nuclear power) and 50 military transport helicopters.
Brazil’s only aircraft carrier is a mothballed vessel bought from France in 2000 and put into service.
Lula, who is keen to finalize the jet deal before he completes his maximum second mandate at the end of next year, has said he believes Brazil is destined to be one of the great powers of the 21st century.
A country’s “independence also has to be a technological one,” he told reporters.
“That’s why the decisions adopted today by France in the area of defense are so symbolic.”
Brazil’s government wants to give Latin America’s biggest nation military muscle commensurate with its swelling economic and political clout — and its ambitions to one day win a permanent seat on a reformed UN Security Council.
It also wants the capabilities to maintain control over its two key resources: its vast Amazon rainforest, and recently discovered offshore oil fields that could make the country one of the world’s top 10 oil producers.
Both Lula and Sarkozy emphasized that the relationship between their countries was not one of client and supplier, but rather partners in a multi-polar world.
In a nod to that, they said in a joint statement that France would buy around 10 military transport aircraft Brazil’s air force plans to build with Embraer, the national aircraft manufacturer.
Those planes, the KC-390, are designed to carry lighter loads than the troubled and delayed Airbus A400 heavy military transport plane France is committed to.
Dassault had previously lost export competitions for Morocco, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the Netherlands.
Dassault said it should finalize the sale to Brazil in 2010.
It hopes the success will boost its chances in tenders called by India, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Libya and Greece.
The Brazil contest was characterized by fierce lobbying by the makers of the three combat jets under consideration.
US group Boeing, which had put forward its F/A-18 Super Hornet used by the US Navy and Australian air force, and Sweden’s Saab, promoting its upcoming and relatively cheap Gripen NG, had insisted they, too, were willing to share technology with Brazil.
But Brazil, burnt by past US vetoes on the export of Brazilian aircraft built with some US components, and the fact the Gripen featured a US-made General Electric engine and an Italian-made combat radar, demurred.
Throughout the tender process, Brazil emphasized that full technology-sharing took priority over cost.
“What’s important for us is to have access to the technology to make this plane in Brazil. That’s what we’re currently negotiating,” Lula said.
Significantly, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said the decision to begin talks with Dassault “was not adopted in relation to the other two” competing companies.
A euphoric Dassault spokesman in Paris told AFP the insinuation was limpid: “President Lula’s declaration clearly means that the Rafale has won the competition.”
He declined to put a precise value on the deal.
The Rafale notably features near-stealth capability and a new combat radar permitting its pilot to engage targets nearly 200 kilometers (120 miles) away.
Amorim stressed to reporters the French deal “won’t be a simple purchase because there will be (aircraft) construction in Brazil — there will be a possibility for Brazil to sell these planes to Latin America.”


Brazil to acquire 36 ultra-modern Rafale fighter jets IDRW.ORG
 

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