Czech pilot “Woody” writes about a normal day during Nato Tiger Meet.

Such as how he successfully finds a target in a jammed environment and later when a Swiss F-18 is knocked down by one of his AMRAAM’s…

Thanks to Signatory for finding this.

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.211squadron.cz%2Fletka%2Fntm09.html&sl=auto&tl=en

At some point you have to pay the price for what you are actually asking. Even if this fighter sell is strategic, France will not accept to loose money on such a deal.

And that could ultimately be why Rafale may lose in Brazil…

All these delays may not mean anything — but I were French I would be a bit worried.

With regards to Gripen NG it simply won’t happen even if it fits their needs like a glove. The engine won’t ever get transferred if Brazil is so anti-U.S. like Hammer suggests. Obama may be a democrat but he’s a team player. And with no EJ200 option on the table, Brazil is pretty much setting themselves up for failure with the delays.

Are you saying that the US would block a sale of the F414 to Brazil?

That would of course also block sales of the SH to Brazil (in which the F414 is probably one of the less sensitive technologies….) which simply does not make sense. Boeing would not spend all that money trying to sell SH to a country unless they believed there was a chance the sale would go through.

Also I would assume that both Saab and Boeing would have received the needed approvals to sell their stuff to Brazil already?

A French defense correspondent claims that Rafale and Typhoon met in UAE, and that the French pilots were “satisfied with the result”.

Jackonicko, does this in any way conflict with what you have heard?

🙂

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aviaport.ru%2Fdigest%2F2009%2F12%2F08%2F186669.html&sl=auto&tl=en

Well I guess SH was in any case out of the question, for political reasons — which makes me wonder why it was included on the short-list at all?

http://www.swedishwire.com/component/content/article/1:business/1988:brazil-holds-up-decision-on-fighter-jet-deal

SAO PAULO (AFP) – Swedish defense firm Saab, maker of the Gripen fighter jet, has to await President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s 12-billion-dollar decision till after Christmas.

Saab’s fight in Brazil ‘not yet over’

Brazil’s ongoing negotiations to buy 36 jet fighters is part of a strategy to boost defensive capabilities against “potential threats,” President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday

“One thing that we are most proud of is that Brazil is a peaceful country, without enemies. But every country has to prepare for potential threats,” he wrote in a weekly question-and-response column distributed to Brazilian newspapers.

Lula stressed that the priority behind the fighter talks and a 12-billion-dollar contract signed last year with France to buy five submarines and 50 helicopters was to obtain the technology so Brazil could build the machines itself.

“We are going to increase surveillance of our airspace with the use of satellites, planes and radars,” he said.

He added that sea defenses were already operational but would also be reinforced “to discourage any attempted attack on Brazilian interests,” which include vast and newly discovered offshore oil fields.

Lula and French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced jointly in September that Brazil was negotiating to buy 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France’s Dassault company. The deal was estimated to be worth between four and seven billion dollars.

But pressure from Brazil’s air force — which was still evaluating the Rafale against rival aircraft the F/A-18 Super Hornet by US group Boeing and the NG Gripen by Sweden’s Saab — forced Lula to delay a definitive announcement.

The Brazilian air force evaluation was due to be handed to the government at the end of November.

Senior defense officials are still to meet to agree on their choice, although Lula has made it clear he will have the final word.

Jean-Marc Merialdo, the head of the Rafale bid in Brazil, told AFP on Tuesday that he had not yet received any details about when a decision would be made by Brazilian authorities.

“The ball is in their court,” he said.

Why all these delays now? The report should have been finalized some time ago, the three companies have delivered new and improved offers, so what is going on? Seems that the decision is far from clear-cut…?