RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The head of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), Lieutenant Brigadier Carlos Almeida Baptista Jr., has confirmed that Brazil is renegotiating with Airbus Helicopters the contract for the HX-BR program, so the country’s Armed Forces will have to give up one of the 16 H-225M helicopters assigned to each force in the original contract.
This reorganization will allow the implementation of the so-called TH-X project, whereby the FAB will acquire 12 H-125 Esquilo aircraft while the Navy will receive 15 units of the same model.
The helicopters will be manufactured at the facilities of Helibras, a local subsidiary of Airbus Helicopters, in Itajubá (MG). For the Brazilian Army and its Aviation, the values of the canceled H-225M will be invested in parts, spare parts, consumables, and logistical support to the rest of the fleet already in operation.
As the main benefits of this renegotiation, the Helibras production line in Itajubá (Minas Gerais) receives orders and maintains its production capacity manufacturing an absolute leader helicopter in the Brazilian military and parapublic/aeromedical market, the H-125 Esquilo.
FLEET STANDARDIZATION
Another important gain is the standardization of the forces’ fleet with an updated model of a classic, worldwide success in its category, in training, light attack, reconnaissance, and liaison tasks. It will maximize the economy of resources by managing a renewed fleet, technologically updated and widely recognized in Brazil.
An important observation by Baptista Jr., once again, a Defense procurement plan, which should have been concluded in 2016, will be extended until 2026, that is, ten years of budgetary unpredictability, a decade managing the problems caused by delays originated in the lack of fiscal responsibility when the subject is National Defense.
With information from InfoDefensa