'Unrestricted technology transfer' guaranteed
“The letter signed by Sarkozy was delivered to Lula overnight from Sunday to Monday after a dinner that the two presidents shared,” said the official in the president’s office, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.
“In the letter, Sarkozy guaranteed the unrestricted transfer of technology,” the official said.
The official said the letter was “instrumental” in the Brazilian government’s decision on Monday to announce the opening of negotiations to buy up to36 French-made Rafale fighter jets.
The Rafales, made by France’s Dassault, have been in a fierce competition with Sweden’s Gripen and the US-made F/A-18 Super Hornet for a contract to begin replacing Brazil’s aging fighter aircraft fleet.
“In the letter, written in French, President Sarkozy even guaranteed Brazil’s right in the future to market those planes in Latin America,” the official said, an aspect of the deal that Foreign Minister Celso Amorim had mentioned Monday in a brief session with the press.
Sarkozy also told Lula in the letter that once the number of aircraft to be bought had been decided on, “the last aircraft in the package would be produced in Brazil.”
The announcement that negotiations had been opened with Dassault prompted the US Embassy in Brazil to issue a statement saying that Washington was committed to transferring “all necessary technology” to Brazil if it buys the F/A-18 fighter made by Boeing.
“That statement is unlikely to change the scenario because it is not clear what is necessary technology, when another competitor guarantees unrestricted technology,” the official said.
If Brazil goes through with the purchase, the Rafales could cost up to seven billion dollars, according to estimates by a source in the French presidency.
It would be the foreign overseas sale for the high-performance fighter.
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