There will be some that say Brazil only is buying the 36 Dassault Rafale strike fighters because of France’s agreement to help develop and maybe buy ten KC-390 airlifters, or transfer extensive nuclear submarine technology, or whatever other reasons, but reality is that, for once, the French sales team orchestrated the campaign rather flawlessly.

It is, without doubt, a huge win for Rafale. Not only is Brazil the first export customer for Rafale, it is a sizeable order and it came in a real competition. Libya and the United Arab Emirates – other countries that are looking at the aircraft – would execute the purchase as a sole source deal.

What’s more, it’s a big win for the French government, which several years ago saw its success in export sales fall. Having a good relationship with Paris was increasingly less important in the global political environment, so defense exports were slipping. The government launched a massive effort to become more supportive of industry. And, French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been aggressive – some may say shameless – in acting as the chief salesman for the country’s aerospace and defense industry.

For France, the Rafale export is not just important as a matter of prestige and influence, but also because Paris wants to reduce the rate at which it is taking the fighters because of budget pressures. With exports, it can do so without Dassault being forced below the Rafale production line's minimum sustainment rate.

I just got back from Brazil and one thing all industry officials there were talking about was how professionally they felt the competition was being run. The F-X2 deal was announced a bit later than first planned – to coincide with Brazil’s independence day which Sarkozy attended (Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was in Paris for July 14 this year), but overall, both schedule and process were executed to plan. That, too, speaks for Rafale having won as fair-and-square as any of these deals are ever won.

The French win is a setback for Saab’s Gripen and Boeing’s F/A-18E/F, although for some time it seemed the French were ahead. The single-engined Gripen might not have appealed to a country with the vast Amazonian region, and Washington, right now, does not appear to have worked the relationship with Brasilia as well as Paris did.

In announcing the deal, Brazil’s president Lula said that “it is the consolidation of a strategic partnership.”