Brazil is looking for fighters to replace it’s existing 1960s vintage fighter force.

It has now shortlisted the Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale and Gripen NG while dropping the Eurofighter Typhoon, F-16, and Su-35 from the competition.

If they are looking at lifecycle costs, the Gripen wins, being half the weight of the competitors.

If they are looking for an aircraft to operate of their carrier, the Rafale wins, because the F/A-18 is really too big for their rather small carrier.

Additionally, they have an existing relationship with Dassault, as they leased Mirage 2000s from them.

That being said, Stephen Trimble notes they are very interested in technology transfer, wanting to rebuild their defense industry, which, after all, was half of the effort to build the Italo-Brazilian team that built AMX attack plane in the 1970s, so it may come down to who gives them the best technology transfer.

My guess is that this competition is France’s to lose, but they have found innovative ways to lose export competitions recently.