Brazil agrees to buy 36 Saab Gripen fighter jets from Sweden

Brazil's government said that Sweden's Saab won a long-delayed fighter jet contract initially worth US$4.5 billion that will supply at least 36 planes to Latin America's biggest nation.

The decision on Wednesday to buy the Saab jet over Boeing's F-18 Super Hornet or France's Dassault Rafale came as a surprise to many. Some analysts said Boeing's bid was hurt by reports that the US conducted extensive spying in Brazil.

Brazil wants the jets to ramp up its defence capabilities to patrol a porous land border that's more than 15,000 kilometres long, over which arms and drugs easily flow. It also seeks better protection for offshore oil fields it has discovered in recent years.

Defence minister Celso Amorim said the choice after some 15 years of debate was made following "careful study and consideration, taking into account performance, transfer of technology and cost, not just of acquisition but of maintenance".

Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt called the decision "a tribute to Swedish technology and competitiveness" on Twitter.

Many had expected the choice to be between the Boeing and French planes. Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva had favoured the Dassault Rafale, while Rousseff was said to favour the F-18.