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Brazil's Vice-president and Minister of Defense, José Alencar, confirmed, Tuesday, August 30, that Brazil purchased 12 used Mirage 2000 jets from France. The deal was negotiated during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's most recent visit to that country.
The planes, which cost 60 million euros, will replace the Brazilian Air Force's (FAB, Força Aérea Brasileira) Mirages that will be retired at the end of this year, because they were considered obsolete and their modernization would be economically inviable.
The FAB intended to buy latest generation fighters to substitute the Mirages, within the PX Project, which has been under development for several years in the Air Force, but the plan ran up against the high cost of new fighters (around US$ 700 million), as well as questions of technology.
Alencar said that the planes that Brazil purchased should have a useful life of 10-15 years in the country, operating as part of the air defense system," until new technologies are incorporated." The planes are expected to arrive at the end of this year or in 2006, Alencar informed.
ABr
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