In a ceremony held today, April 22, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro baptized the two SAAB F-39 Gripen aircraft, newly arrived in Brazil, which are set to be incorporated to the Brazilian Air Force (FAB).
The second batch of multi-mission aircraft arrived in Brazil on April 1. The ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Defense, Paulo Sérgio, the commander of the Air Force, Air Lieutenant Brigadier Carlos de Almeida Baptista Junior, as well as members of the Air Force high command.
At the ceremony, FAB’s chief signaled that the Air Force is pushing to rapidly increase the amount of Gripen orders. According to the commander, President Bolsonaro has already approved the alteration of the original contract, which would lead to an increase in the number of aircraft acquired from 36 to 40 units.
Additionally, the Brigadier commented that studies have been initiated to acquire a second Gripen batch that could reach thirty units, as anticipated last December.
«In parallel, we have begun preliminary studies for the acquisition of a second batch of these aircraft in order to ensure that the deactivation of older aircraft does not cause us to lose the capacity to carry out our mission of homeland defense,» said Baptista Junior.
In December, the commander said that for Brazil, the focus is «to seek the contracting of a 30-aircraft second batch of Gripen, with a number not yet specified of E (single-seat) and F (two-seat) versions.
This second batch will face an uphill battle to get approved, as defense contracts of such magnitude will require congressional approval and Bolsonaro was not having much luck in getting things passed lately.
A not so minor detail is that general elections are set to be held next October, therefore major decisions -such as a billionaire, multi-year contract- have a good chance to be stalled until the new composition of Brazil’s legislative branch is set.
