Brazil wanted to buy, make French Rafales-WikiLeaks

Sun Dec 5, 2010 2:00pm GMT

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* France ready to transfer Rafale coding to Brazil-WikiLeaks

* Nov. 2009 US cables suggest Franco-Brazilian deal near

PARIS, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Brazil has sought to buy French Rafale jets and acquire the technology to build them at home for export to other Latin American countries by 2030, the daily Le Monde reported on Sunday, citing leaked U.S. diplomatic cables.

Brazil has been negotiating with several nations including France, the United States and Sweden, over a deal to acquire fighter planes as it seeks to renew its ageing fleet and boost surveillance of the nation's strategic assets.

The proposed deal, which could concern over 100 aircraft potentially worth more than $4 billion, has sparked fierce competition among aircraft manufacturers. The cables quoted by Le Monde suggest Paris was in advanced talks with Brasilia over a possible sale.

"Not only do they (Brazil) want to buy the Rafale, but also produce the aircraft on their soil and even sell across Latin America by 2030," Le Monde quoted a U.S. diplomat as saying in Nov. 2009 in one of the cables.

Le Monde is one of five newspapers to have been given advance access to a store of some 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables leaked by website WikiLeaks. The cables reveal frank exchanges between U.S. diplomats and Washington about foreign leaders.

President Nicolas Sarkozy sought to reassure his Brazilian counterpart about the price of the aircraft -- $80 million each -- by telling him that France would transfer the codes at the heart of Rafale technology to Brazil, Le Monde said. Continued...

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