The funny thing in this is that the fighter MR Lula premature selected as a winner came out last of the three in these test's, despite that,and a prize twice of the contender that came out first (Gripen) Rafale will probably came out as a winner in this due to reason's that's has nothing to do with fighterjets!
This political bunfighting is showing this competition to be what it really is.
It's always about differing requirements.
Yes, All three competitor aircraft met the FAB technical requirements, which is why they were finalists from the original six.
Two of the "leaked" reasons for GNG as the FAB 1st choice was cost and room for development. The FAB sees the latter as important as GNG is still a "work in progress" while the Super Hornet and Rafale are fully developed with less room for new development.It's always about differing requirements.
GNG is interesting to Brazil precisely because it is still in development - ToT. Hence financial risk is better balanced against ToT value, than it was in e.g. Norway. The same applies to cost of through life support (upgrades, MLU)
Operational cost is (potentially) attractive to them.
Sth. Am. threat matrix is more predictable and manageable for the Brazilians than for other nations elsewhere on the globe.
GNG is not that interesting to some NATO air forces, because of interoperability (logistics, doctrinal).
It's a good choice, though I'm not putting my money on any horses in this race - I simply can't figure where it will go!
So the ball is in France's court to get the Rafale cost down, as promised by Pres Sarkozy back in Sep 2009, and so far balked at by French industry. This would seal Pres Lula's "political decision" for the Rafale.
If Lula decides to leave this to the next admin, is it then expected to be an F-X3 competition, or would one just shift the final decision of the current competition?
This seems rather speculative to me. First off, the Rafale never left the Indian competition, as stated here. Second, comparing figures between tenders is very difficult since there will always be differences in what is included and what is not included. Third, according to other sources 10 billion USD was never mentioned for the Brazil competition:
Also, I think it is wrong to conclude that the "10 billion USD" figure often mentioned for for Indian competition necessarily means that they will pay 10 billion USD for 126 Rafale (if they decide to go for Rafale) Looking at the six a/c in that competion I would expect quite a range of cost estimates from 126 Mig-35 or Gripen at the low end to 126 Typhoon/Rafale at the high end. Do we know that the 10-billion estimate is for the more expensive fighters in that competition? And as already mentioned, what will be included in that price?
That would be scandalous if it happens!
