A implantação de um Programa Foreign Military Sales (FMS) no Brasil

Abstract

The arms transfer has been carried out since early history. Thucydides already registered the transfer of weapons, men, ships and supplies when he wrote the "History of the Peloponnesian War", about 2300 years ago. But it was in the 20th century that the arms transfer flourished and spread throughout the planet. Until World War I, arms trading was basically carried out by private companies. With the end of the Great War, the unpopularity of the arms manufacturers led governments to assert control over the international trade in arms. The arms sale, under government control, began to be accepted and considered as a necessary means to achieve peace. After World War II, governments began not only to promote arms exports, but also to financially support the research and development of new technologies, as well as to offer technical assistance and credit to other countries, enabling the creation of package deals. Governments and manufactures became partners, resulting in a significant increase in the amount of sales. This expansion has created a peculiar market, extremely competitive and influenced by economic and geopolitical factors. In this market, the major exporting countries of defense products have their governments directly involved in promoting the sales. In Brazil, the government participation is limited because there is not a government-to-government sales program established in the country. This work has studied the largest government-to-government sales program of the world, the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, in order to propose alternatives for Brazil. Based on the analysis of the characteristics of the FMS program, the U.S. and Brazilian legislative processes and the incorporation of international agreements in the Brazilian legal system, a viable alternative for implementing an FMS program in Brazil is presented, which can contribute to the strengthening of the Brazilian Defense Industrial Base, the Armed Forces and the national defense.