November 2, 2002 at 3:58 am
It has been officially announced yesterday that EADS-CASA consortium was chosen to provide the new light cargo aircrafts (CL-X program) and upgrade the P-3 Orions (P-X program) for Brazilian Air Force.
The C-295 offered by EADS beaten the C-27J Spartan, which was been offered by the Lockheed Martin-Alenia consortium, and the An-3213 201 which was being offered by ROSOBORONEXPORTIAVIANT (man, what a big name, huh?!?!? ). The C-295s are gonna replace the old C-115 Buffalos, in a deal which is calculated at US$270 millions. The official announcement doesnt mention how many C-295s are being bought but some agency news have published that it will 15 brand new C-295s.
EADS-CASA proposal for the upgrade of the recently bought P-3 Orions was the winner of a tender, which had Lockheed Martin’s proposal as the favorite one. Galileo Avionica also sent its proposal. This deal is calculated in US$330 millions and englobes the upgrade of 8 P-3 Orions. In 2000, Brazilian Air Force bought 12 from US Navy reserves, but just 8 of them are expected to get operational. 2 of them are intended to become spare parts suppliers and the other 2 are gonna be used for training.
All, I’m really sorry to say that nothing was mentioned about the F-X program.
Regards,
Junin