Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




AEROSPACE
Boeing casts net wider for Brazil jet deal
by Staff Writers
Rio De Janeiro (UPI) Jul 20, 2011


disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

The Boeing Co. cast its net wider in the campaign to secure Brazil's multibillion-dollar order for up to 100 jet fighters, pledging generous technology transfers and training for Brazilians as part of the deal.

Boeing is in competition with French Dassault Aviation's Rafale fighter jet and Swedish company Saab's Gripen NG rival.

Since U.S. President Barack Obama visited Brazil in March and met with President Dilma Rousseff, Boeing seems to have gained more support in media reports before the decision-making process reaches the next stage in 2012.

Appearances can be deceptive, however. All through 2010 Dassault's Rafale was tipped as the hot favorite to win the multibillion-dollar contract after positive comments by former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and hopeful pronouncements by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Boeing backers in the Brazilian government and military have cited the company's track record and strong, possibly unrivaled, features of its offering, the F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Rafale has had few buyers and Gripen has had rivals point out that its Gripen New Generation uses the General Electric F414G engine, developed from the F/A-18E/F used on the Super Hornet's engine.

Boeing Wednesday unveiled its marketing strategy at an aviation industry forum in Sao Jose dos Campos where it outlined for Brazilian businesses and universities a "broad spectrum of opportunities" available to them as part of Boeing's Super Hornet offering in the bid for the F-X2 fighter aircraft competition.

"Boeing will provide the Brazilian air force with the most advanced combat aircraft to meet its operational requirements, as well as a broad array of benefits to Brazilian industry," said Tom DeWald, Boeing Super Hornet campaign leader in Brazil.

"As the world's largest aerospace company, Boeing is well-positioned to deliver an industrial partnership program through robust technology transfer, research and development and competitive work placement opportunities with Boeing and our extended network of suppliers."

More than 100 representatives of companies, universities and industry associations joined government officials from Sao Jose dos Campos and the surrounding region at the Boeing Industry Day, which was hosted by Sao Jose dos Campos Technology Park.

"Today's forum supports our goals to foster technological innovation, revitalize local and regional economies, improve industrial competitiveness and create new jobs," said Jose de Mello Correa, Sao Jose dos Campos secretary of economic development and science and technology.

The lobbying for the contract has involved government and state leaders at the highest levels, with even the king of Sweden at one point considered as an intermediary.

The deal for an initial 30 of the projected 100 jets for the Brazilian air force inventory is worth more than $4 billion but no confirmed figures have emerged from Brasilia.

Aside from the price and relative efficiency of the competing aircraft, at issue is Brazil's insistence on extensive transfer of technology as part of its overall strategy to start manufacturing a jet fighter of its own.

That's a tough call for the bidders, as none of them find the prospect of the customer turning into an arch competitor in a lucrative area of defense industry, believed to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars in future sales. Air forces worldwide are considering phasing out jet fighters bought from the 1950s onward.

Brazil has emerged as a major competitor for European and North American manufacturers of executive jets and smaller passenger aircraft, mainly the result of an extensive research and development program pursued without significant foreign help.

Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim told reporters during a visit to France the government would consider the deal next year, but "the principal necessity is technology transfer."

.


Related Links
Aerospace News at SpaceMart.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








AEROSPACE
Flight Options buys Embraer executive jets
Rio De Janeiro (UPI) Jul 18, 2011
Flight Options will buy Brazilian-made executive jets with $167 million loaned by a Brazilian bank. Flight Options, the second-largest fractional jet company in the United States, said it has entered into a 3-year, $167 million financing agreement with Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social to finance the company's purchase of Embraer Phenom 300 jet aircraft. The d ... read more


AEROSPACE
Two NASA Probes Tackle New Mission: Studying The Moon

Twin Artemis Probes To Study Moon In 3D

Marshall Center's Bassler Leads NASA Robotic Lander Work

NASA puts space probe into lunar orbit

AEROSPACE
Opportunity Tops 20 Miles of Mars Driving

Opportunity Under One Mile from Crater Rim

NASA in Australia for Mars research

Mars Opportunity Rover Nears Endeavour Crater Rim

AEROSPACE
NASA Begins Commercial Partnership With ULA

"Space taxi" coming

AIA Concerned by NASA, NOAA Cuts

Appropriations Committee Approves the Fiscal Year 2012 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill

AEROSPACE
China launches new data relay satellite

Time Enough for Tiangong

China launches experimental satellite

China to launch an experimental satellite in coming days

AEROSPACE
Atlantis crew leaves historic flag aboard ISS

Obama dials for pizza, gets space station

NASA Selects Nonprofit to Manage Space Station National Lab Research

Astronauts Complete Spacewalk; Cargo Transfers Begin

AEROSPACE
Russia sends observation satellite into space

NASA inks agreement with maker of Atlas V rocket

Russia launches 2 foreign satellites into orbit

ILS Proton Successfully Launches the SES-3 Satellite for SES

AEROSPACE
Ten new distant planets detected

Microlensing Finds a Rocky Planet

A golden age of exoplanet discovery

CoRoT's new detections highlight diversity of exoplanets

AEROSPACE
'Bloom is off the rose' for 3D: DreamWorks CEO

Apple profit rockets with hot iPad, iPhone sales

Chilean copper-molybdenum mine moves ahead

Earnings-outlook spry at 100-year-old IBM




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement