<b>BRAZIL’S F-X FIGHTER PROGRAM REMAINS IN LIMBO:</b> The competition to supply a new fighter aircraft to the Brazilian Air Force may be just weeks away from collapse, according to a senior executive at Embraer, the country’s leading aerospace and defense company here. Latin America’s largest Air Force badly needs new combat aircraft to replace aging Dassault Mirage IIIs that are due to be scrapped next year. A decision on a winner of the service’s $700M F-X program, for an initial 12 fighters, has been delayed several times during the last two years. Embraer is offering a derivative of the Dassault Aviation Mirage 2000-5, with Gripen Int’l offering the JAS 39 Gripen, Lockheed Martin the F-16 and Sukhoi the Su-35. Now, says Anastacio Katsanos, Embraer’s senior manager of defense market strategy, if a winner is not selected by the end of the year, the competition in its current form could be dead. “The best and final offers on F-X have already been extended twice, and they expire again at the end of December. If there is not a further extension, the program as it stands would be effectively canceled,” he said. (Defense News)
THE RAMPTOR ENGINEERING TEAM <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
"Who cares if it works? Does it look good on the ramp?"
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