Resources for the Gripen Project Are Guaranteed In the 2017 budget, Says Minister of Defense
"The resources are guaranteed for the project to follow its schedule, which is going very well," said Jungmann.
Brazil will invest about US$ 5 billion in the project that includes the purchase of 36 fighter aircraft that will be delivered between 2019 and 2024. The GDDN is the main landmark in the technology transfer process between Brazil and Sweden on the Gripen NG project. It is the first in the list of 60 offset projects (industrial, technological or commercial compensation) valued at US $ 9 billion.
The site is where development, testing and verification projects, as well as for the storage of support systems for the new Brazilian fighter plane, the Gripen NG, will be carried out. The process of technology transfer will take place mainly through the GDDN, whose package involves capacity building, production and maintenance.
The minister also defended that the choice of the Swedish fighter to equip the Brazilian Air Force, which he said was the best from the standpoint of technology, defense and technology transfer, and which will increase the technical and operational capacity of the Brazilian aerospace industry.
"The understanding of the Brazilian Air Force was that the best project for Brazil, for the defense of Brazil, was the Gripen. Today, we can prove that, in fact we have taken the best option," the minister said during the event.
Jungmann described the timing of the inauguration of the GDDN as a milestone due to the lengthy process involving the F-X2 project between Brazil's decision to replace 20-year old fighter aircraft which culminated in the choice of Gripen, announced in 2013.
For the Air Force Commander, Lieutenant-Brigadier Nivaldo Luiz Rossato, the inauguration of the GDDN is an important step in the construction of the Gripen NG project. "It started when we started the project; after many years, when the federal government decided that this would be our airplane; later, with the signing of the contracts and, last year, with the financing," he recalled. The general pointed out that in future, the engineering center will also be used for other projects. "It's a very important stage, but I remember it's a step in the direction of the goal we want to achieve," he said.
Joint development
As early as 2017, the site will receive half of the total of 300 engineers and technicians planned for when it is in full operation. By 2024, Brazil will send 350 engineers to Sweden. According to Saab, they will be divided into five groups and will perform 25,000 hours of theoretical and practical training in Sweden. The GDDN will be the basis of work and technology transfer between Saab and Embraer, as well as other companies such as Akaer, AEL Sistemas and Inbra.
Secure site connections, which will network with the similar center in Sweden, will protect project information. In the central part of the building will be concentrated areas of structural design, loads and stress. The building will also house spaces for telemetry and flight test monitoring.
KC-390
Soon after the inauguration, the Defense Minister and the Federal Budget Rapporteur, Senator Eduardo Braga, got to know the largest airplane ever made in Brazil, the KC-390. This multi-mission aircraft, which will be the backbone of the Brazilian Air Force's transport aviation. It is now in the flight test phase, and will be produced at the Embraer complex in Gavião Peixoto, a plant that concentrates defense products of the company.
"This [KC-390] project puts us in a position to compete with the world's largest industries that develop aircraft," said the Defense Minister.
When the new airlifter enters production, the production capacity will be of 18 units per year. Jungmann said that according to Embraer, total orders could reach 500 aircraft. "That would mean we would have a trade balance from $ 1 to $ 1.5 billion each year just by selling the KC-390," the minister said of the aircraft's export potential.
However, the minister also indicated the need for another 200 million reals to build the third prototype of the aircraft and, thus, guarantee its certification. "The Country comes out ahead, but needs to stay ahead. If the project is delayed, what will happen is that other countries will also develop their products and occupy this place," the minister explained.
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