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The Brazilian air force announced Oct. 1 three finalists in a long-delayed competition to supply the country’s next-generation multirole fighter aircraft. Even more important than which airframe the air force selects is the forward progress in the program itself — and what it could signify for Brasilia’s capacity to reform and modernize its military.
According to the Brazilian air force, the Swedish Saab Gripen NG, the French Dassault Rafale and the U.S. Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet have been short-listed for the final phase of the competition, which is to be decided in 2009. The initial order will entail some 36 airframes, with delivery to begin around 2014.
The current phase of the competition, known as F-X2, has its roots in a failed turn-of-the-century attempt, known as F-X, to provide Brazil’s air force with a modern jet fighter. A smattering of budgetary and political problems saw F-X canceled in 2004, two years after a design was to have been selected and a formal contract signed. Such delays are hardly unique to Brazil. But Brasilia is attempting to initiate a broad and far-reaching program of defense modernization and reform, and it is now poised to actually invest money in major acquisitions to support this plan.
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