Final tenders for the Brazilian air force's F-X BR project have been handed in. Proposals for the $760 million fighter procurement programme will be submitted to the national defence council and the winner will be selected by early January.
The four contenders - Dassault/Embraer (Mirage 2000-9), Sukhoi (Su-35), Lockheed Martin (F-16C/D Block 50/52+) and Saab/BAE Systems (JAS39C Gripen) - have all tendered upgraded offers compared with those submitted in late 2002.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian air force Embraer A-29/AT-29 ALX trainer/light attack aircraft is ready to enter service in December. The first squadron will receive its full complement of seven single-seat A-29s and 18 AT-29s by the second half of 2006. Airframes are to be handed over at a rate of one aircraft a month until the second quarter of 2004, when the rate will be increased to two a month, when deliveries of the first single-seat A-29s begin. Three other EMB-312 Tucano-equipped squadrons, all based within the Amazon region, will receive single and two-seat ALXs. The Brazilian air force should receive all of its 51 two-seat AT-29s and 25 single-seat A-29s by September 2006.
Meanwhile, on 24 November, Embraer flew the first prototype in the F-5BR programme. A total of 43 F-5E and three F-5F airframes will undergo extensive overhaul and modernisation under the $285 million F-5BR programme, developed by Embraer and Elbit, in which the airframe is strengthened and a new avionics suite, FIAR Grifo-F radar and beyond visual range missile capability incorporated.
Deliveries of production aircraft to the Brazilian air force begin in August 2004 and end in April 2006.
Source: Flight International
