Embraer Defense & Security held the delivery ceremony, today, for the first modernized A-1 (A-1M) fighter jet to the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) at its industrial plant in Gavião Peixoto, in outstate São Paulo. The event was attended by the Aeronautics Commander, Air Force General Juniti Saito, and officers from the FAB’s High Command. O A-1M program provides for refurbishing and modernizing 43 subsonic AMX jets, 16 of which are already at the Company’s facilities.

The A-1M jet has the capability of performing air-to-ground attack, bombing, tactical air support and reconnaissance missions. The modernized FAB airplanes will receive new systems for navigation, weaponry, oxygen generation, multimode radar, and electronic countermeasures. This equipment, along with structural refurbishment, will allow these jets to continue operating until 2025. According to the Embraer modernization program, the A-1Ms will receive systems that are similar to those that are also found on the F-5Ms and the A-29 Super Tucanos belonging to the FAB. This will assist with the adaptation period of the pilots and provides standardization with numerous operational advantages, such as improved fleet management policy, better output in terms of flight hours, and reduced maintenance and operating costs.

The program also includes providing briefing and debriefing stations that will be used for training and improving the proficiency of the pilots of the FAB squadrons, and make it possible to get better use of the equipment, reduce costs, and achieve greater effectiveness in mission planning and execution. Therefore, the FAB will then have a state-of-the-art attack aircraft, with the latest generation of avionics and embedded systems, which ensure the capability of fulfilling the mission of defending the sovereignty of Brazil’s air space with excellence.

“The A-1 fighter jets are fundamental elements for the defense of Brazil, including its territorial coastal waters. We have been very successful in using this aircraft on such highly complex operations as the Cruzex and Red Flag exercises. Its modernization presents a big gain in capability, along with adequate cost-benefit, and, once again, it shows the value of the Nation’s industry,” points out the Aeronautics Commander, Air Force General Juniti Saito.

“The delivery of the first A-1M marks another special moment in the long and successful history of relations between the FAB and Embraer,” said Luiz Carlos Aguiar, President of Embraer Defense & Security. “This aircraft will be very useful for maintaining the operational capability of the Brazilian Air Force.”

Embraer press release