MOSCOW. April 9 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian arms exporters will face tough competition on the Brazilian arms market, especially with the United States and France that have dominated it for decades, a Russian military expert told Interfax-Military News Agency on Tuesday.
"Though Russia has relatively small possibilities of entering the Brazilian market of military and dual-purpose products, military-technical cooperation with that country is doubtlessly of interest for Russian companies engaged in production of and trade in arms and military hardware," Konstantin Makiyenko, deputy director general of the Center of Analysis, Strategies and Technologies, said.
The Brazilian Armed Forces and police, which are the most numerous in Latin America, are urgently implementing a series of rearmament programs, he said.
"Russia has some possibilities of selling its armament subsystems for the Navy, such as anti-ship missiles, deck helicopters and ship-based long-range radar and picket helicopters for aircraft carriers, as well as for the Land Forces, such as tanks from the Defense Ministry's stocks, helicopters and portable surface-to-air missile systems," Makiyenko noted. In addition, Russia is offering modernization of Mirage 3 fighters, military-purpose research and tests and cooperation in the space sphere.
The MI-8/MI-17 Hip transport and landing helicopters and new batches of Igla portable surface-to-air missile systems, including transfer of their production technology, have the highest chances for success on the Brazilian market, the expert said. There are prerequisites for development of cooperation in the space sphere, including in establishment of space observation over the vast Amazon region. In addition, Brazil is interested in procuring Russian boats and hydroplanes for implementation of the large and costly SIVAM project intended for establishment of control over the Amazon basin.