Brazil's controversial aircraft shootdown law is expected to come into force in October after being signed by the country's president, Luiz In cio Lula da Silva.
The law is aimed at countering the increasing number of aircraft illegally transiting Brazilian airspace, engaged in drugs or arms smuggling to and from neighbouring countries.
Approved by the Brazilian parliament in 1998, the law was delayed for various reasons, including concerns by the general aviation community in remote northern parts of the country. The downing of a US-registered civil aircraft by the Peruvian air force in 2001 has also fuelled US opposition.
The Brazilian air force says around 3,000 flights a month are performed without a flightplan in Brazilian airspace, of which about one-fifth are light aircraft engaged in smuggling activities. The 2002 entry into service of the SIVAM surveillance system has allowed the air force to chart the most frequently used routes employed by drug-smuggling aircraft.
To minimise the possibility of a wrong downing, the law will be enforced only within demarcated areas that have been identified as smuggling routes. However, air force sources believe most successful interceptions will lead to the destruction of the offending aircraft upon landing, similar to the way operations are performed in Colombia.
The air force will use Embraer EMB-312 Tucanos from squadrons based at Boa Vista, Campo Grande and Porto Velho, because trials have shown jets to be unsuitable for intercepting general aviation aircraft. These aircraft will be replaced with Embraer EMB-314 ALX light strike aircraft this month and be used to control entry points into Brazil from Bolivia, Colombia and Peru.
The law replaces the current eight-step air force interception procedure, with a further five checks that must be made before an order is granted to shoot down an aircraft.
Source: Flight International
