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Brazil to increase military spending

27 October 2010 01:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. As part of its National Defense Strategy Brazil plans to spend billions on imported weapons in order to increase its military might, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Brazil has recently signed a deal to import five French-made submarines and 60 French transport helicopters at a cost of USP 12 billion, AFP reported.

Additionally, Brazil and Italy are partnering up to build 2,044 armored troop vehicles in Brazil over the next twenty years.

Moreover, Brazil has put out a tender to buy 36 modern fighter jets which will cost an estimated four to seven billion dollars.

They are currently negotiating to buy France’s Rafale, the US F-18 Super Hornet, or Sweden’s NG Gripen.

The country also holds 24 Mi-35M Russian-made attack choppers.

The deals, along with others increases in military spending, are part of a National Defense Strategy drafted by outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration in 2008.

Brazil also had helped to broker a South American Defense Council (SADC) as part of a body within the Union of South American Nations.

SADC has the stated aim to strengthen regional defense cooperation, making Brazil a strategic military player in the region.

The development comes as the country gears up for the run-off to the presidential election on October 31, between ruling party candidate Dilma Rousseff and former Sao Paulo state governor Jose Serra.