Brazil’s Embraer Tuesday said it signed a contract to modernize 12 Brazilian navy jets in the first large-scale program between the company and the navy.
“Embraer is honored by the confidence of the Brazilian navy, and receives it as a new distinguished defense customer among over 20 armed forces which currently operate its aircraft around the world,” Frederico Fleury Curado, Embraer’s president and CEO, said at a ceremony taking place during the seventh edition of the Latin America Aero and Defence (LAAD) trade fair in Rio de Janeiro.
The 12 airplanes that will be modernized include nine single-seat AF-1s and three two-seat AF-1As, known worldwide the A-4 Skyhawk.
This upgrading is designed to fully restore the operating capacity of the navy’s 1st Intercept and Attack Plane Squadron, for their joint Brazilian defense mission with the naval and navy air force groups.
The program includes restoring the aircraft and their current systems, as well as implementing new avionics, radar, power production, and autonomous oxygen generating systems, the company said.
“By choosing Embraer, the navy is making an important contribution to consolidating the technological and industrial capacity of Brazil for modernizing military aircraft,” Curado added.
Embraer has recently worked on upgrading Brazilian air force F-5 and A-1 fighter jets.