Brazil to rebuild its weapons industry

 2008-09-04 02:00:02 - BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Brazil plans to rebuild its once-thriving weapons industry with the help of technology from in other countries, a senior official said Wednesday. Strategic Affairs Minister Roberto Mangabeira Unger said Brazil's new National Defense Plan, to be announced next week, calls for the establishment of partnerships with countries like Russia and France to build a state-of-the-art weapons industry. But such partnerships must include the transfer of technology, he said. «We will not simply be buyers or clients, but partners,» Unger told The Associated Press. «Any arrangement into which we will enter must, in principle, contemplate a significant element of research and development in Brazil. In April, Brazil and Russia signed an agreement to jointly develop jet fighters. The agreement also includes the construction of rockets capable of hurling several kinds of satellites into space. Earlier this year, France said it would transfer technology to Brazil for construction of the Scorpene attack submarine. The Scorpene is a conventional diesel-powered attack submarine that Brazilian officials say they want as a model for the development of a nuclear submarine that would be the first in Latin America.
In the mid-1980s, Brazil had a thriving weapons industry and was the world's eighth-largest arms exporter. There was strong demand for Brazilian armored personnel carriers, reconnaissance and anti-aircraft vehicles, troop carriers and rocket launchers. By the mid-1980s, Brazil had the largest defense industry in the developing world, according to the Brazilian Association of Defense Materiel Industries.
But the industry went into a tailspin when the Cold War ended and the world demand for armaments declined. In 1990, Brazil's two largest arms manufacturers, Engesa and Avibras, requested protection from creditors for debts of about $200 million. Associated Press writer Stan Lehman contributed to this report from Sao Paulo.