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Boeing sweetens Brazil jet offer
F/A-18s could be assembled in South America.

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Bloomberg News
Published: 9/11/2009 2:26 AM
Last Modified: 9/11/2009 4:57 AM

Boeing Co., sweetening its bid to beat out Dassault Aviation SA and win an order for 36 jet fighters from the Brazilian air force, has offered to assemble most of the proposed contract's F/A-18 Super Hornets in Brazil.

Chicago-based Boeing wants to manufacture the first 12 planes in the U.S. and transfer equipment and tools to assembly lines to Brazil so Sao Jose dos Campos-based Empresa Brasileira Aeronautica SA can assemble the remainder, said Mike Coggins, who is overseeing the sale for Boeing.

"If Brazil chooses to exercise this option, we're on board, and the U.S. government has been on board since February, when they granted us full authority and approval," Coggins said Thursday in a phone interview from Brasilia. "We do recognize it is important to Brazil that these jets are final-assembled here."

Boeing wants to prevent Paris-based Dassault from winning work that analysts estimate could be valued at as much as 5 billion euros, or $7.29 billion. Boeing made its offer last week, before French President Nicolas Sarkozy traveled to Brazil, pitching Dassault's Rafale jet with a promise to build some locally as well as buy 10 Embraer military transport aircraft.

Boeing, Dassault and a third finalist, Saab AB of Sweden, are being allowed to amend their bids delivered in June, Coggins said. Brazil's air force will make its recommendation this month, he said.

France's government promised to grant Brazil exclusive rights to sell the Rafale in Latin America. Coggins called the offer a "marketing ploy" since few regional buyers can afford the plane or have committed to other suppliers.

"We feel that Brazil's goals of national autonomy and industrial development are best served by a 30-year partnership with the largest aerospace company in world," he said.

Under Boeing's offer, Embraer would perform both the final assembly on the remaining 24 jets and "do the same work should the number of jets grow," Coggins said. By JOSHUA GOODMAN Bloomberg News

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