Thread: Brazil may sell planes to US for use in Iraq

Brazil may sell planes to US for use in Iraq

Tuesday, June 03, 2008 02:59 [IST]

Sao Paulo (Brazil): Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer is participating in a preliminary bidding process to sell the US government eight 314-B1 Super Tucano light attack and training planes for use in Iraq, the company said today.

Embraer also confirmed that it sold one of the propeller-driven planes to a subsidiary of Blackwater Worldwide, the world's largest security contractor and the target of harsh criticism for its conduct in Iraq.

The plane maker is offering Washington the Super Tucano in a tender process opened by the US government, according to an Embraer spokesman who declined to be named in keeping with company policy.

Embraer, or Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA, has sold 99 of the planes to the Brazilian military and 25 to neighbouring Colombia's air force, mostly to fight drug trafficking along the countries Amazon border, the spokesman said.

A light fighter like the Super Tucano, which the Brazilian military outfits with .50-caliber machine guns under each wing, could be used to patrol Iraq s borders with Iran and Syria, where the US military says militants and weapons are routinely smuggled.

The US has provided small planes before to the nascent Iraqi air force, which has about 1,500 personnel and 50 aircraft, mostly small propeller planes and helicopters.

http://news.indiainfo.com/2008/06/03/08 ... il-us.html

We don't need no sinkin Brazilian planes.