"The committee gave a unanimous green light Monday but it still must be approved by the full Senate" in coming days, a spokeswoman for the Senate Economic Affairs Committee said.

The loan would come from BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Santander, Calyon, Credit Industriel et Commercial and Natixis. Brazil would have 15 years to pay back the loan.

Most of the loan, 4.3 billion euros, will go to having French submarines built in Brazil. A shipyard would be built in Sepetiba, Rio de Janeiro state, to build the subs.

Another 1.76 billion euros will be for helicopters built in Brazil by Helibras, about 45 percent of which is held by Eurocopter, a branch of European defense giant EADS.

Eurocopter says it is the biggest helicopter contract ever in South America.

In December, France and Brazil signed an agreement calling for the sale of 50 EC-725 transport helicopters and the construction of four conventional Scorpene attack submarines and a five nuclear powered submarine in cooperation with France.

The agreements are to be formalized during a visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Brasilia September 7.

Separately France's Dassault Rafale is in the running to provide Brazil 36 fighter jets. Boeing's F-18, from the United States, and the Saab Gripen from Sweden are also competing for the contract.

earlier related report
Malaysia's first ever submarine arrives to acclaim
Malaysia's first ever submarine was delivered Thursday to colourful fanfare and a royal visitor, in an acquisition that the government said "completes" the country's navy.

The European-made Scorpene submarine is the first of two commissioned from French contractor DCNS and Spain's Navantia for a combined total of 3.4 billion ringgit (961 million dollars).

The second submarine is scheduled for delivery in late 2009.

"With the arrival of the first submarine, our navy is now complete as it has an air component, a sea component and now a submarine component," defence minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters.

The KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, named after the nation's first prime minister, sailed into a grand reception at the navy's deepwater Pulau Indah base in Port Klang, an hour's drive from the capital Kuala Lumpur.

A naval band struck up martial tunes as the jet-black vessel, decorated with bunting and with its captain Zulhelmy Ithnain in the viewing tower, docked at the pier, which was packed with Malaysian and foreign naval dignitaries.

Malaysian King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin was given a tour of the submarine, which set sail 54 days ago from the French port of Toulon, where the vessel was built.

Naval officials said the submarine would be based in Sabah state, on Borneo island, where it will undergo fine-tuning before it is deployed in search and rescue and military exercises.

The two submarines have long attracted controversy since the deal was signed in 2002.

Malaysia's opposition claims that a 540-million-ringgit commission was paid to a close associate of now-Premier Najib Razak in brokering the deal.

The prime minister, who also attended Thursday's ceremony, has denied there was any corruption in the deal, which was made when he was defence minister.

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