MADRID, Spain, 29 April 2005. The Brazilian government and EADS CASA have signed two important contracts: one where EADS CASA will supply Brazil with C-295 military transport aircraft, and another where EADS CASA will modernize Brazil's fleet of P-3 maritime patrol aircraft.
The contracts are worth a total of 560 million euros.
These are the first defence contracts between these two countries and the biggest one ever signed in Latin America. Implementation of these contracts will entail more than two million man-hours for EADS CASA facilities in Getafe and San Pablo. Spanish companies in the Defence Sector, such as INDRA, SAES or Tecnobit will also have an important participation in these programmes, developing and manufacturing advanced technology equipment and sensors which will be installed on the aircraft purchased by the Brazilian government.
The C-295 aircraft will be the core of the CL-X programme dedicated to supply the Brazilian Air Force with medium transport aircraft to support activities related to the Amazon Protection System (SIPAM) and the Calha Norte Project. Both missions will support people in remote areas of the Amazon with difficult access by other means of transportation. The 12 EADS CASA C-295 aircraft will replace the obsolete C-115 Buffalo, and will also support the C-130 Hercules in the Brazilian Air Force. The contract amounts to �238 million.
The programme concerning the maritime patrol aircraft, named P-3BR, consists of the modernization of eight P-3 aircraft, purchased by the Brazilian government from the U.S. Navy. A state-of-the art FITS mission system will be installed on these aircraft. FITS is the Fully Integrated Tactical System, developed entirely by EADS CASA in Spain.
Work will be carried out at EADS CASA facilities by EADS CASA technicians, with the participation of technicians from the Brazilian industry and Air Force personnel. There is an option to modernize a ninth aircraft. This contract will amount to �320 million.
The P-3 aircraft will be used mainly in Maritime Patrol missions to protect the Brazilian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), border control, to fight drug trafficking in the Amazon Region, and in rescue missions in an area that is more than 6 million square kilometers, assigned by the OACI to the Government of Brazil (practically all the South Atlantic).
EADS CASA's proposal, and the one from the rest of the competitors, were subjected to a long and meticulous evaluation process inside and outside the country, with detailed studies of technical, logistic, commercial and offset parameters.
The selection of EADS CASA will entail an important industrial return for Brazil and will imply the participation of important Brazilian aeronautical companies such as VARIG Ingeniería, ATECH and the HTA group in San José formed by several companies in the sector, among others. 1,500 highly qualified technical jobs will be generated.
Francisco Fernández Sáinz, CEO of EADS CASA declared: "I am proud of the results obtained by EADS CASA, and deeply satisfied by this first collaboration of our company with Brazil. I am sure this is the beginning of a promising future. We are grateful to the National Defence Council and to the Brazilian Air Force for selecting EADS CASA in these two programmes."
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2004, EADS generated revenues of � 31.8 billion and employed a workforce of about 110,000. The EADS Group includes the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world's largest helicopter supplier Eurocopter and the joint venture MBDA, the leading international missile producer in the global market. EADS is the major partner in the Eurofighter consortium, is the prime contractor for the Ariane launcher, develops the A400M military transport aircraft and is the largest industrial partner for the European satellite navigation system Galileo. For more information, see www.eads.net.
