A Brazilian air force intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft flew 7,500nm (14,000km) to Dubai to make the first international show appearance of an Embraer EMB-145 AEW&C.
The aircraft was developed to provide aerial observation of the Amazon region for the country’s Amazon Surveillance System (SIVAM) programme.
“We’re very proud and excited to bring the aircraft to this important event allowing customers from the region to visit the aircraft and meet directly with the Brazilian Air force crew,” says Romualdo Barros, Embraer’s executive vice-president for the defence market.
The ISR left Anapolis military base near Brazilia on 16 November at 2am, stopping at Cape Verde, Saville and Rhodes. Total flight time was 18h. It was an autonomous flight with spare parts and a maintenance crew on board.
Brazilian air force Lt Col Barbacovi Alcides, who piloted the aircraft, says: “There were no problems during the flight with the aircraft performing as we expected. We did not require any support during our stops, the aircraft just needed to be refuelled.”
The Brazilian air force has five R-99As and three R-99Bs (EMB-145 RS Remote Sensing) which have logged more than 11,000 flight hours over the Amazon region in a monitoring, law enforcement and national security capacity.
Source: Flight Daily News
