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BRASILIA – Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab intends to create a global export platform for defense and security products manufactured by the company in Brazil. In an interview with GLOBO, the president of the company, Micael Johansson, said that the intention is to make the country a center for the production and sale of items to other nations, in alliance with the local industry.
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The company presented on Friday, in Brasilia, the first of the 36 Gripen fighters acquired by the Brazilian Air Force (FAB). In Brazil, the Swedish fighter will be called the F-39E.
– I want to make Brazil one Cube to Saab, together with Brazilian partners, to export to other markets. This can be the fighter, like Gripen, but also other things that we would like to work with the Brazilian defense industry – said Johansson.
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Saab has products and services for the military defense and civil security sectors.
In Brazil, the company is a partner of the aircraft manufacturer Embraer, in addition to AEL Sistemas, which develops electronic avionics components, and Akaer, which specializes in the development of high-tech products for the aerospace and defense markets.
Johansson believes that Brazil is in a position to become a player strong in the defense industry. As one of Saab’s most important clients, the executive hopes to build a long-term relationship with both the government and local companies.
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The fighter presented yesterday is still in the testing period, with Swedish pilots. The intention now is to adapt the aircraft to the specificities of Brazil and to the requirements made by the FAB.
The agreement for the purchase of the 36 fighters was signed in 2014, during the government of Dilma Rousseff, for the renewal of the Brazilian fleet, which today is mainly composed of American F-5 fighters. Despite being modernized in recent years by Embraer’s defense department, the famous American aircraft were manufactured in the 1970s.
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Fierce competition
FX, the FAB’s fleet modernization program for supersonic military aircraft, was conceived 20 years ago. In 2009 it already had the name of F-X2, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva even announced that he would buy French Rafale fighters, during a visit of then French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Brazil.
But in the competition, Saab took the place of the Boeing F-18 Super Hornet and the French Dassault Rafale. Of the three models that participated in the tender carried out by the Ministry of Defense, Gripen was, at that time, the only one that had never been tested in operations. The Swedish model has always been the favorite of the pilots and the top of the FAB.
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The new fighters are expected to start operating in mid-2021. The project will cost R $ 25 billion, in updated amounts, but the Air Force will have 25-year financing.
If the payment and production schedules are met, all units will be at the Anapolis Air Base (GO) in 2026. President Jair Bolsonaro participated yesterday in the ceremony in which the FAB presented the Swedish fighter.
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According to the Saab executive, there are no signs of change in the aircraft delivery and production schedule, despite budget difficulties in Brazil and the deterioration of the global economic scenario.
– I have no information and no indication about it (delay in the schedule) – he said.
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The F-39E reaches 2,400 km / h, which is twice the speed of sound. It is a multi-mission aircraft, with patrol and attack functions, in addition to the ability to conduct operations against maritime targets.
Several Brazilians have already visited the Swedish city of Linköping, Saab’s headquarters, where they participated in a series of trainings foreseen in the technology transfer program of the contract signed by the Swedish manufacturer and the Brazilian government.
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At least 15 of the 36 aircraft acquired by the FAB will be assembled in Gavião Peixoto (SP), where Saab and Embraer have created a technology transfer center.
Saab intends to make Brazil the platform for the final assembly and testing of the Gripen fighters that can be supplied to Colombia, should the Swede win in the competition opened by the South American neighbor.
“I will certainly build as many planes as possible within Brazil if we are successful with Colombia,” Johansson said.
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Colombia must choose the supplier of its new fighters by the end of next year. The selection process now enters the final stage, with Americans and Spaniards as competitors.
– If we are successful in Colombia with the Gripen fighter, I think it will be essential to have the support of Brazil, the Brazilian Air Force, the Brazilian industry. We can work on this project here, instead of working from Sweden – he said, adding: – So far we have had great support from Brazil to explain this project here and the capabilities of the system.
