Defense Minister Celso Amorim said Wednesday that Brazil may make a decision on awarding a multi-billion-dollar contract for 36 fighter jets in the first half of this year.

The Rafale, made by French firm Dassault, is competing against US aviation giant Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet and Swedish manufacturer Saab's Gripen jet for the contract valued at between $4 and $7 billion.

"The decision may be made in the first half of this year," Amorim told reporters after a seminar on defense policy.

Last year, Brasilia delayed a decision on the purchase following a major budget cut.

"I think the fighter jets are needed, Brazil needs them for its defense," the minister said. "The president (Dilma Rousseff) is fully aware of this. Now the exact time requires a conjunction of factors... It is up to the president to decide."

A Brazilian government source told AFP that a decision was unlikely before the outcome of the French presidential elections in May.

The source also recalled that Rousseff was due to travel to the United States April 9-11 for talks with President Barack Obama.

Amorim said his recent trip to India, a country which last month selected the Rafale over a rival from the Eurofighter consortium, should not be seen as confirmation that Brasilia was leaning toward the French fighter jet.

"It is very important that Brazil exchanges information, but it does mean that the decision will be the same" as that taken by India, he noted.

New Delhi last month selected the Rafale over the rival Eurofighter, giving Dassault the right to enter exclusive negotiations with India for 126 fighter jets estimated to be worth $12 billion (nine billion euros) after it lodged a lower bid than its European rival.

Amorim stressed that planned budget spending cuts this year would not affect the timetable for the decision because the contract will not involve expenditures for this year.

Brasilia is insisting on technology transfer and the possibility of assembling the jets in this country, conditions that appear to favor the Rafale.

The Rafale international consortium is made up Dassault, engine maker Snecma as well of defense and aerospace giant Thales.

The consortium maintains that it alone offers unrestricted technology transfer.

In December, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said during a visit to Brazil he was confident of selling Rafale fighter jets to the South American nation because the aircraft's technology cannot be matched.

The multi-role jet was designed to have the ability to take on air-to-air combat, reconnaissance flights and nuclear bombing missions.

It has special technology and uses composite materials to give it a very small radar profile and a combat awareness system allowing it to engage multiple targets at up to 200 kilometers (120 miles) away.

The Rafale was used in the recent war in Libya, but the fighter has repeatedly lost out in tenders in countries including Singapore, South Korea, and Morocco.