The Air Force decided that they needed a slower, more maneuverable aircraft that can loiter longer above the battlefield to support ground troops in the 21st century war against terror. They called this aircraft a light attack and armed reconnaissance (LAAR) aircraft. The Air Force decision to buy the LAAR pits a US company, Hawker Beechcraft, against Brazilian-owned and operated Embraer. By Brazilian-owned and operated, I mean the government of Brazil subsidizes the aircraft company, so the government is essentially the majority stock-holder.<\/p>\n
The Beechcraft submission is the AT-6<\/a>, a variant of the T-6 training aircraft that the Air Force already uses to train it’s pilots as well as the pilots of foreign allies. So you can imagine how easy it would be to transition pilots from their training into these fighters.<\/p>\n The Hill<\/a> says that giving the contract to Beechcraft would add 1400 jobs in 18 states to the economy. On the other hand, awarding the contract to Embraer would only create 50 jobs in the US, but who needs 1350 additional jobs in this economy, right?<\/p>\n In addition to costing the US some jobs, awarding the contract to Embraer also puts our national security at risk. Brazil has opposed the US in the war against terror, opposed us in attempts to rein in Iran’s nuclear program and in reining in Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva who just left office was a notorious supporter of Iran and Chavez. His replacement, Dilma Rousseff, was a Marxist guerrilla in the 1960s, so you know where her loyalties lay.<\/p>\n Since Embraer is largely controlled by the State, it’s probably a given that Brazil could hold our national security interests hostage to their whims by interrupting the flow of aircraft and spare parts that the Air Force has determined is critical to their participation in the war against terror.<\/p>\n