Brazil is a smaller government, and has a recent history of being quite effective, efficient and improved over their own history.
They had a good selection of aircraft offered to them and they did due diligence for a long enough time to make a good choice.
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/brazil-embarking-upon-f-x2-fighter-program-04179/ December 2013, Brazil came to the conclusion that Sweden’s JAS-39E/F Gripen was their best choice. A contract for 36 aircraft was signed in October 2014, and Brazil’s air force (FAB) has confirmed that their eventual goal is 108 fighters in 3 tranches. Another 24 aircraft could end up serving in Brazil’s navy, as carrier-borne fighters.......
....a high-performance fighter whose price and operating costs are both low. Gripen is likely to be Brazil’s cheapest option over its service life; ..................
The competition under consideration,
Boeing’s F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, Dassault’s Rafale, EADS’ Eurofighter, Lockheed Martin’s F-16 Block 60, Saab’s JAS-39 Gripen NG, and Sukhoi’s SU-35.
The FAB was also said to be interested in the Lockheed-Martin F-35, but .....
The counting of the cost
The JAS-39NG reportedly ranked 1st in the FAB’s technical trials, had strong support from Brazilian aerospace firms, and offered a complete package worth about $6 billion (about 10 billion Reals),...
.....paid off in a 36-plane order that secured the Griipen NG’s future..
$ 6,000,000,000/36=$166,666,666 each.
These are of course, quite rough numbers.
But I think it illustrates that the kind of aircraft one might buy with ten million each , would not be in the league that it would need to be.
