Saab and Embraer start assembling aircraft in Gavião Peixoto; contract provides for the purchase of 40 F-39 Gripen E/F aircraft, the most modern in operation in Latin America
Swedish fighter F-39 Gripen E/F begins to be produced in Brazil, in the Gavião Peixoto plant, in the interior of São Paulo, six months after entering into operation in the Brazilian Air Force (FAB). It is the most modern aircraft in operation in Latin America, which will equip the 1st Air Defense Group (1st GDA), located in Anápolis (GO). President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva inaugurates the assembly line this Tuesday 9.
The renewal of the FAB fighter aviation is one of the main strategic projects of the Ministry of Defence. It initially envisaged the purchase and delivery by 2027 of 36 Gripens for US$ 3.77 billion, or R$ 20 billion in current values. Four more aircraft have been included in the contract in 2022, for a total of 40 fighters to be produced by Saab in collaboration with Embraer.
The FAB is also studying the acquisition of another 26 Gripens through a second contract. The development and purchase of the Gripen is one of the strategic projects of the Ministry of Defense brought to President Lula. The ministry argued that despite the country’s fiscal difficulties, the flow of resources needed to be ensured for the project to continue.
The last 15 units of the first batch of 36 fighters will be built in Brazil. The agreement for the purchase of the Gripen provides for the transfer of technology to Brazil and two years of training for 350 professionals who will be responsible for assembling the aircraft at the Embraer unit in Gavião Peixoto.
There, test pilots from FAB, Embraer and Saab performed flight tests, part of the technology transfer program, so that the fighters received their initial operating license, before entering service at Anápolis (Baan) Air Base. where they were handed over to the 1st GDA.
The Gripen will gradually replace American-made F-5M fighters. This model entered service in Brazil in 1975 and whose modernization, carried out by Embraer, was completed in 2020. The new aircraft is expected to receive short- and long-range air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles and laser or GPS-guided bombs for use against land and sea targets. The load on external armaments can be up to 7 tons.
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In Gavião Peixoto, the Gripen Design and Development Network (GDDN) was built in 2016. It is, according to Saab, a “technology transfer hub considered the point of integration of companies, government parties and partners involved in the programme, in particular Embraer”. Currently, the Brazilians and Swedes are developing the Gripen E and F models “in areas such as vehicle systems, aeronautical engineering, structural design, systems installation and integration, avionics, human-machine interface, weapons integration and communications”.
According to Saab, the GDDN is “securely linked to Saab in Sweden and industry partners in Brazil”. It has simulators for the development of combat aircraft in Brazil. This is where the so-called S-Rig, short for Systems-Rig, the first Gripen development simulator outside Sweden, works. This sector supports the activities of the Gripen Flight Test Center (GFTC) to prepare pilots before flight tests.
In 2018, Saab built a plant in São Bernardo do Campo, in the ABC region of São Paulo, where the tail cone, aerodynamic brakes, rear and front fuselage for the FAB Gripen E are produced. There is also a maintenance laboratory for highly complex electronic equipment. According to Saab, it will be in this unit that maintenance of the Gripen’s electronic warfare equipment and AESA radar will be carried out.
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Gripen began supersonic flight tests in Brazil in March 2021. All are performed at high altitudes above 5,000 meters. The FAB currently operates four F-39 Gripens at 1st GDA, Anápolis. By the end of the month, two more aircraft will be delivered to the Italian Air Force.
Source: Terra
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