Saturday, October 19, 2013

Will Brazil Choose Russia's T-50 Over Boeing's F-18?

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U.S. Fighter Jet Bid With Brazil In Jeopardy As Russia Muscles Into Deal Amid NSA Controversy -- FOX News

Russian military officials are in Brazil this week trying to woo President Dilma Rousseff into letting them in on a bid for a multi-billion dollar fighter jet contract – a move that could scuttle a proposed deal with U.S. manufacturer Boeing and further strain relations between Washington and Brasilia.

Boeing made a $4 billion proposal to supply Brazil with F-18 fighter jets and was long expected to be the front-runner in a bidding war with Rafale by Dassault and Saab’s Gripen NG.

While Brazilian officials and the Russian delegation, headed by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, will sign a contract to send Russian-made Panzir-S1 air defense systems to Brazil, Russian and Brazilian media reported that the major reason for the visit is for Russian officials to convince the Brazilian government to consider a bid for its Sukhoi T-50 fighter jet.

Read more ....

My Comment: I do expect Brazil to make it's jet fighter decision based on costs/technical issues/ and delivery .... but the Russians do want to sell their fighters, and the T-50 (at least on paper) appears to be a formidable alternative.

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