One of Brazil's most important military modernization efforts is the new generation F-X fighter program. On November 4, 2007 the F-X Project was revived. In January 2008, Brazil’s President Lula authorized Brazilian Air Force Commander Juniti Saito to restart the long-delayed F-X fighter replacement program. As of late 2008 a decision was to be made in March 2009, with a final contract award in October of 2009. But in 2011 Brazil postponed the expected purchase to 2012, citing the need for budget cuts in 2011 due to the deteriorating world economy.
Now known as Project FX-2 and with a bigger budget, the initial competitors for acquisition were the Eurofighter Typhoon, Sukhoi Su-35, Saab Gripen, Dassault Rafale, Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and, although information on Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II was requested, Lockheed Martin presented an F-16 Fighting Falcon variant (designated F-16BR). In October 2008 Brazil's F-X2 fighter competition eliminated three of the six bidders as the focus shifts to scrutinising the technology transfer and offset proposals for each of the finalists Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet was a finalist along with the French Rafale and the Swedish Gripen. Five criteria will be used to make a decision: the quality of the platform, the technology being offered, the training being offered, the price, and the life-cycle cost.
Source : www.globalsecurity.org
