Defense, development and technological- productive controversies

the issue of fighter aircraft acquisition

Abstract

The cycle of revitalization of national defense experienced in the Lula administration was based on a sociological construction that sought to associate the country's means of defense with its development. In this context, military re-equipment projects came to be legitimized as important national projects. Following the pragmatic sociological tradition, this article contributes to the integrated study of social, technical, economic and strategic dimensions around the material issue of national defense and its association with the spirit of an era marked by developmental discourse. In this context, a case that became emblematic was the acquisition of fighters for the Brazilian Air Force. Fruit of a complicated decision-making process that dragged on for nearly two decades, the Swedish Gripen fighters were considered winners of the F-X2 Project in 2013. The trajectory of the decision involved shared uncertainty and disagreements, with engaged agents and groups taking different positions, characterizing -a as a controversy according to the pragmatic sociological tradition. Due to the centrality that the fighter replacement controversy assumes in the technological-productive and military-civil interfaces, the case is ideal to show, in a dynamic way, the formation of agency in socio-technical networks. The research is based on an empirical survey in the corpus of journalistic articles published in large circulation newspapers, understood as devices of controversy. Through the cartography of controversies, critical moments of visibility, groups of participating actors, and the shaping of the main controversial themes are identified. The deepening of important translations carried out along the trajectory allows us to show how networks of actors built sociological reasons around the relationship between defense and development, of defense material and the replacement of fighter jets specifically. Within a defense industry revitalization project justified on the basis of national development, the option for the acquisition of foreign aircraft accompanied by technology transfer – Project F-X2 – became a mandatory crossing point as it was able to translate the interest of a variety of actors.