March 31, 2013 (by Lieven Dewitte) – Brazil canceled its plans to spend $700 million on at least 12 new fighter jets to upgrade its air force. This is a blow for Boeing who offered F-18E Super Hornets.
In October 2003 Brazil announced its plans to replace 12 ageing Mirage fighter jets. The bidding process is now canceled because technological advancements would have rendered the aircraft being considered obsolete, the air force said in a statement.
The bidders included Boeing’s F-18E Super Hornet, Sweden’s Saab with the Gripen jet, and France’s Dassault Aviation’s Rafale.
Boeing spokesman Joe Stout noted that there are a lot of uncertainties involving foreign military sales. He said Boeing would be ready if Brazil were to decide to go ahead with a new competition.
The St. Loius plant has a dwindling backlog of F-18 orders, with production to end if no new orders are made. Last year, Boeing has cut hundreds of jobs from the program and said it may cut 1,000 more this year, reducing F-18 employment to about 4,000.
“The F-18 is still a very important part of our business here,” Stout said, adding that the company believes it is likely to obtain orders for 100 or more planes that would extend production through 2020.
The Pentagon had also offered to include AMRAAM missiles in the sale, which would have been Latin America’s largest military hardware purchase since the end of the Cold War.
On December 27th 2000, Chile bought 10 F-16 fighters from Lockheed Martin, marking the first sale of advanced U.S. warplanes to a South American country in two decades. The LoA was signed on February 2nd, 2002.
Defence Minister Celso Amorim, is opting to upgrade the country’s existing Mirage fighter jets to the same standards as the Rafale jet which is currently in operations with the French military.
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March 31, 2013 at 10:05 pm