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BRASILIA — Defense Minister Celso Amorim said Wednesday that Brazil may make a decision on awarding a multibillion-dollar contract for 36 fighter jets in the first half of this year.
The Rafale, built by French company Dassault, is competing against U.S. aviation giant Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Swedish manufacturer Saab’s Gripen for a contract valued at between $4 billion and $7 billion.
“The decision may be made in the first half of this year,” Amorim told reporters after a seminar on defense policy.
Last year, Brasilia delayed a decision on the purchase following a major budget cut.
“I think the fighter jets are needed, Brazil needs them for its defense,” the minister said. “The president [Dilma Rousseff] is fully aware of this. Now the exact time requires a conjunction of factors ... It is up to the president to decide.”
A Brazilian government source told Agence France-Presse that a decision is unlikely before the outcome of the French presidential elections in May.
The source also recalled that Rousseff was due to travel to the United States April 9-11 for talks with President Barack Obama.
Amorim said his recent trip to India, which last month selected the Rafale over a rival from the Eurofighter consortium, should not be seen as confirmation that Brasilia is leaning toward the French fighter jet.
“It is very important that Brazil exchanges information, but it does mean that the decision will be the same” as that taken by India, he said.
New Delhi last month selected the Rafale over the rival Eurofighter Typhoon, giving Dassault the right to enter exclusive negotiations with India for 126 fighter jets estimated to be worth $12 billion.
In December, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said during a visit to Brazil he was confident of selling Rafales to the South American nation because the aircraft’s technology cannot be matched.
The multirole jet is designed to take on air-to-air combat, reconnaissance flights and nuclear bombing missions. It uses composite materials to give it a small radar profile, and a combat awareness system that allows the jet to engage multiple targets at up to 200 kilometers (120 miles) away.
The Rafale was flown in the recent war in Libya, but it has repeatedly lost out in fighter contests in several countries, including Singapore, South Korea and Morocco.
