MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Following on the Indian deal, France expects Brazil will purchase Rafale fighter jets

Defence Minister Gerard Longuet hopeful of a deal with the UAE

French Defence minister Gerard Longuet said that following on the deal to sell 126 Dassault Rafale fighter jets to India, Paris is hopeful it can seal a similar contract with Brazil.

“Brazilians did the right thing, first and above all they purchased submarines (from France) which is what they most needed”, pointed out Longuet adding that what is now pending is the tender for the fighters for which France and the Rafale are competing the US and Sweden.

Earlier in the day French newspaper La Tribune reported on Thursday that France would seal a long-awaited deal for Dassault to sell at least 60 Rafale fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates by April, “turning around what appeared to have been a lost cause”.

The Rafale this week appeared as the preferred bidder in a plus 15 billion dollars contest to supply India with 126 warplanes, lifting hopes for a sale that would boost French national pride and restore the lustre of its aviation sector.

La Tribune said on its website that President Nicolas Sarkozy would go to the UAE in March or early April when the contract is likely to be finalised.

The deal, potentially worth 10 billion dollars has been in the works since 2008, but was thrown into doubt in November when the world's fourth-largest oil exporter said the proposed terms were “uncompetitive and unworkable.” It asked for details of a rival aircraft, the Typhoon built by the Eurofighter consortium.

A French government source said that Paris was waiting to hear from the Emirates this month. The UAE has pressed for the aircraft's engines to be upgraded with extra thrust and for better radar, industry sources have said.

La Tribune said there were a few technical details still to be ironed out, but that they were easy to resolve. It added that as part of the deal Paris would take back the Emirates' existing Dassault-made Mirage fighters.

Speaking after the India announcement, French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet hinted there could be more deals ahead.

“Good news is like worries, they fly in squadrons,” he said. ”That (deal) is the start of a squadron of good news.”

A French win in the UAE could also lead to further contracts in the Gulf Arab region which shares the West's concerns that Iran is using its nuclear energy programme to develop weapons, a charge Tehran has denied. Saudi Arabia inked a deal for U.S. arms worth nearly $60 billion a year ago.

Qatar, a close French ally, said last year it wanted to replace its fleet of Mirage fighter jets during 2012 possibly buying 24 to 36 units. Kuwait in 2010 said it was also considering buying Rafales to replace its ageing Mirage fleet.

According to analysts the Gulf countries are looking to have the same aircraft for inter-operability reasons as well as differentiating themselves from Gulf power house Saudi Arabia, which uses U.S. Boeing-built F-15s.