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With more than 3,300 pounds of weapons, the fierce Super Tucano can swoop in to unleash hefty firepower from above and save lives of warfighters on the ground. The A-29 “Super Tucano” turboprop aircraft looks like a Latin spin throwback to the World War II era of iconic American fighters- but make no mistake this aircraft is a modern hybrid of low tech and high tech fit to fight current threats. The Super Tucano is currently taking part in the U.S. Air Force's exciting Light Attack Experiment. The A-29 that is part of the Experiment is a partnership between Brazilian...

The Embraer Super Tucano is the sole compliant bidder for a Philippines Air Force (PAF) requirement for a new close air support (CAS) aircraft. The PAF has prioritized CAS and air to ground munitions procurement as a result of the takeover by Muslim extremist insurgents of the city of Marawi on the southern island of Mindanao. An Embraer spokesperson said the company is committed to fulfilling the requirement. The PAF is seeking six aircraft for CAS to complement, and eventually replace its aging fleet of OV-10 Bronco twin turboprops. The Broncos have recently flown missions over Marawi, dropping 500-pound Mk...

Last week, when I was being shown around Embraer's new U.S.-assembled A-29 Super Tucano with a group of journalists, the first thing that caught my eye was a big covered something sticking out of each wing. In an age of remote control drones and smart bombs, that couldn't possibly be a machine gun, could it? It sure enough was said our Embraer guide. The A29, in a throwback to the days of mano a mano air combat, has a single .50 caliber gun in each wing, although not the same Browning model used in just about every U.S.-made aircraft that...

The first A29 Super Tucano manufactured in the United States made its debut today in a ceremony at the Embraer facility at Jacksonville International Airport. The light air support defense plane, contracted by the U.S. Air Force from Sierra Nevada Corp. and built by Brazilian-based Embraer, has passed its military certifications and was officially approved for use by the Air Force. The Afghan National Army for light air support will eventually use the plane. "The capability speaks for itself," said Taco Gilbert, vice president of the Sierra Nevada Corp. "It's gotten its air worthiness approval, which is a stamp of...

Almost three years after it announced plans to produce a low-cost, multirole aircraft for military and civilian duties, South Africa’s Paramount Group has completed the first public flight of its AHRLAC design. Paramount Group The advanced high-performance reconnaissance light aircraft’s formal debut was performed at Wonderboom airport in Pretoria on 13 August – just over a month after Paramount unveiled the prototype on 10 July. Flight testing of the type has now reached a total of around 5h, the company says. According to its developer, AHRLAC “integrates designs from attack helicopters, surveillance platforms and reconnaissance aircraft with the ability to...

Beechcraft hopes Congress will get involved to kill a U.S. Air Force contract with its Brazilian rival Embraer to make $431 million worth of fighter planes for Afghanistan.

Embraer Officially Opens A-29 Assembly Facility in Florida Florida Gov. Rick Scott and other political leaders joined Embraer president and CEO Frederico Curado on March 26 to cut the ribbon on a 40,000-sq-ft hangar at Jacksonville International Airport that Embraer will use to assemble the A-29 Super Tucano for the U.S. Air Force Light Air Support (LAS) program. The Air Force awarded Embraer and its teammate Sierra Nevada, the U.S. proponent for the LAS bid, a $427 million contract on February 27 to supply 20 Super Tucanos for light air support, reconnaissance support and training of the Afghan military. The...

Embraer bests Beechcraft for Afghan plane order (Reuters) - Brazil's Embraer bested U.S.-based Beechcraft in a high-stakes U.S. Air Force recompetition for 20 light air support planes to be provided to the Afghan military for training and counterinsurgency. Embraer and its U.S.-based partner, Sierra Nevada, were awarded a $427.5 million deal, the Pentagon announced after the close of business on Wednesday. The pair had won an initial $355 million contract in December 2011, but it was scrapped after a legal challenge from the losing bidder, then known as Hawker Beechcraft. Brazilian leaders had voiced displeasure with the sudden cancellation, saying...

Boeing to arm Embraer's Super Tucano fighter (Reuters) - Brazil's Embraer is announcing plans on Tuesday for Boeing Co to supply a new weapons system for its light attack fighter, strengthening its offer in a fiercely contested bid for a U.S. Air Force contract in Afghanistan. The new weapons system will offer longer-range "smart" bombs guided by laser and GPS, Embraer said. The company will provide details of the new system, first reported in the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper, at the Farnborough Airshow later in the day. With the Boeing weapons system on its Super Tucano fighter, Embraer aims...

Super Tucano Supporters In Shock: AF To Pick Tucano Or AT-6 Without Flying Either The Air Force will choose a winner in its troubled Light Air Support competition without actually flying the two contending planes, the Embraer Super Tucano and the Hawker-Beechcraft AT-6, and it will even disregard what it has data from the limited "flight demonstration" it conducted last year. That's a disturbing departure from best practice in a program that has already been an agony for the Air Force, with the delivery of ground-attack planes to the fledgling Afghan air force now delayed by 15 months, enough to...

Embraer sells Super Tucanos to three African countries Embraer has sold its Super Tucano light attack/trainer aircraft to Burkina Faso, Angola and Mauritania in deals worth a combined US$180 million, the Brazilian manufacturer announced yesterday. The Burkina Faso Air Force has already received three Super Tucanos, which were spotted at Guararapes International Airport in Recife, Brazil, on September 7 last year during their delivery flight. They are currently being used for border patrol missions. The Super Tucanos are a major boost to Burkina Faso’s small air arm, whose only other combat aircraft are two Mi-35s acquired from Russia in 2005....

An Open Letter to General Schwartz on the Light Air Support Aircraft by Ed Timperlake Please do not validate that the AT-6 was compliant when submitted for LAS Solicitation FA8615-10-R-6088” by allowing your investigators to focus exclusively on the end-game selection paperwork. “There will be hell to pay” USAF Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz was recently quoted about possible results depending on what the “investigation” of the “smoking hole” debacle of trying to deliver a combat aircraft to the Afghan war effort. This is more tough talk from a General who previously told industry: “Don’t blow smoke up my...

Hawker Beechcraft's AT-6 Guns For Embraer's Super Tucano: Rival Planes Compared It's Texan versus Tucano, take two, and the embarrassed Air Force has got to get it right this time. With all the claims, counter-claims, and rumors swirling about the controversial contract to buy the Embraer Super Tucano, which the Air Force cancelled unexpectedly on Tuesday and will likely re-compete, AOL Defense went both to the rival companies and independent sources to distill this definitive guide to the competition, from the two planes' performance to the manufacturers' twenty-year history of feuding. The bottom line? Both leading competitors are offering small,...

U.S. jet contract decision "surprised" Brazil government RIO DE JANEIRO/SÃO PAULO (Reuters) - A decision by the United States to cancel a $355 million defense aircraft contract with Brazilian planemaker Embraer (EMBR3.SA) has surprised the government of Brazil which had hoped for the development of a bilateral defense program, Brazil's Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Thursday. The ministry said in a statement that the government was "surprised" with the cancellation "especially with the way that it happened and the timing." The U.S. Air Force earlier this week called off the purchase of 20 Embraer's Super Tucano jets due to problems...

Super Tucano Vs AT-6: The “Smoking Hole” by Ed Timperlake “While we pursue perfection, we sometimes fall short, and when we do we will take corrective action,” said Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, in a statement Tuesday (Feb 28, 2012). The USAF just withdrew their selection of the SuperTucano for the Afghan Army Air Force LAS. Numerous worldwide news stories are reporting this action. The Air Force plans to set aside a disputed $354 million contract for a light air support plane and initiate an investigation into the award. A senior USAF acquisition official, who is reportedly leaving soon in...

US Air Force cancels deal for Brazilian-made aircraft AFP - The US Air Force has canceled a $355 million contract for a light attack aircraft made by Brazil's Embraer, saying it would open an investigation after protests from a rival US aerospace firm, officials said Tuesday. The contract for 20 Embraer AT-29 Super Tucano aircraft was awarded in December as part of plans to arm the Afghan military amid a NATO troop drawdown. But the US Air Force said it was not "satisfied" with the paperwork supporting the decision to hand the project to US-based Sierra Nevada Corporation, in partnership...

Peru may buy 10 Embraer Super Tucanos -Brazil * Deal with Embraer could be worth $150 mln * Peru also interested in Embraer's KC-390 planes * Brazil, Peru want to boost border security BRASILIA, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Peru is considering buying ten Super Tucano light attack aircraft from Brazil's Embraer as it works with Brazil to bolster surveillance along their jungle border, Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim said on Tuesday. Amorim said the Peruvian military is also interested in Embraer's KC-390 military transport plane and the armoured land vehicle Guarani, a Brazilian army project that is expected to start...

Misinformation and Legal Wrangling Delaying Mission-Critical A-29 Super Tucano for American Warfighters in Afghanistan SPARKS, Nev., Feb. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), the winner of the U.S. Air Force Light Air Support (LAS) competition, today issued a point-by-point rebuttal of misinformation being spread by the disqualified contender for the contract. The LAS contract provides aircraft, training and support for the U.S. government's partner building efforts in Afghanistan and other nations. The aircraft is urgently needed to support aerial reconnaissance and light air operations in Afghanistan, as well as to develop the organic capability needed to complete the...

Brazil's Embraer eyes NATO buyers for Super Tucano Mon, Jan 16 2012 By Brad Haynes and Carolina Marcondes SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's Embraer expects to sell its Super Tucano light attack aircraft to more NATO nations after clinching an order from the United States that lifted the company into the upper echelons of global defense contractors, a top executive told Reuters. "When you're selling to the most demanding client on the planet ... that's a showcase," Luiz Carlos Aguiar, the head of Embraer's Defense and Security unit, said in an interview. "It naturally opens the door to the NATO...

NATO Training Mission Afghanistan Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Chris FaheyS New airframe adds strike capability to Afghan air force AFGHANISTAN - In Afghanistan’s continued effort to independently battle counterinsurgency, a new tool will be added to their arsenal designed to allow versatility, reconnaissance and precision weapons placement to the growing Afghan air force. Announced Dec. 30, the U.S. Air Force has approved a contract worth more than $350 million that will provide the Afghan air force with at least 20 A-29 Super Tucano light air support aircraft, ground training devices and all associated maintenance and support equipment originally...