Brazilian leading paper says the government has decided to buy French Fighters

Brazil Defense Minister  has denied that the government had already decided to puchase French fighters as one of the countries leading newspaper, Folha de São Paulo, published today. The paper says that, after several months of intense speculation,  Brazil finally decided to purchase 36  Franch Rafale fighters aircraft made by Dassault. The decision  was made, according to Folha, after the manufacturer reduced from US8.2 billion to US6.2 billion. Even with the reduction, the French fighter is much more expensive than its competitors: the proposed model Gripen NG, the Swedish Saab, was $ 4.5 billion, and the F-18 Super Hornet, the U.S. Boeing, U.S. $ 5.7 billion. The package sold by the French would include aircrafts, weapons, logistics and cost of technology transfer. Dassault has estimated that the maintenance of aircraft for 30 years will cost $ 4 billion.