Indonesia has inducted its first four Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano light attack aircraft at Malang air base. The aircraft were officially handed over to the air force in a ceremony, a statement on the nation's defence ministry website said.
The Brazilian-built aircraft had arrived at Jakarta's Halim air base earlier this month after been flown from Sao Paulo, where they were handed over to the Indonesian government on 6 August. They were flown by Embraer pilots and transited over a dozen countries en route to Indonesia.
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| Indonesian defence ministry |
At the Indonesia defence show in Jakarta in November 2010, Embraer announced it had closed a deal to sell Southeast Asia's largest nation eight Super Tucanos. In July 2012, a subsequent deal involving eight more aircraft was announced. Deliveries of the first batch should be completed in 2013. This will be followed shortly by the second batch, all of which are set to be delivered in 2014.
Indonesia will use the Super Tucanos to replace its fleet of Vietnam War era Rockwell OV-10 Broncos.
Indonesia has suffered periodic insurgencies in provinces such as Aceh and West Papua, creating a niche for counter-insurgency aircraft in the nation's air force.
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| Indonesian defence ministry |
Source: Flight International
