[diogenes ghost]

There is a psuedo-FReeper named Defense Matters, or something like that, who posts every press release from the Embraer consortium touting the Tucano or blasting the AT-6.

Surely they will be responding soon and he will post their 'impartial analysis' on why the Tucano is a superplane and AT-6 is a POS.

[frithguild]

Embrear spent $50,000 to fly a couple of Super Tucanos to flight tests. Hawker-Beech spent 7 figures to do the exact same thing.

[USNBandit]

One problem is that the contract was for a non-developmental aircraft that could meet the specs. The AT-6 is still in development. They had to upgrade to a more powerful engine and they still have to do carriage and release testing. There is no indication that they won't have structural issues over time carrying weapons on that airframe where the Tucano has a track record.

As far as being American made the AT-6 is a licensed Swiss product, manufactured in the Kansas, with a Canadian EO/IR camera. The Tucano is Brazilian manufactured, Florida assembled, with an Oregon EO/IR camera.

I am surprised nobody raised a bigger stink over the Army LUH contract. A much bigger contract which began with a large number of aircraft being manufactured in Europe and assembled in the U.S.