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RIO – The most ambitious project of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), the so-called F-X2 program, entered a new phase this Thursday, with the first flight of the Gripen NG in Brazil, baptized by the Air Force as the F-39E. The Swedish fighter, configured for tests only, flew for one hour and three minutes, after taking off at Navegantes Airport (SC), at 14:04, and landing at the Flight Test Center, at Embraer headquarters, in Gavião Peixoto (SP). at 3:07. The aircraft, which had no setbacks in its first test here, arrived from Sweden on a ship, which docked last Sunday in the port of the municipality of Santa Catarina.
This is the first of 36 aircraft under the contract signed in 2014 with the Swedish manufacturer Saab for the renewal of the Brazilian fleet, which today consists mainly of American F-5 fighters, manufactured in the 1970s and operated in five squadrons. , distributed in the North, South, Southeast and Midwest regions. The new fighters are expected to come into operation at the end of 2021. The FAB investment is R $ 24 billion, in updated amounts, with financing for 25 years. If the payment and production schedule is met, all units will be, in 2026, at the Anápolis Air Base (GO).
– From that moment on, we will start testing flights in Brazil. We already did some in Sweden. Now we will do it in conjunction with Embraer, using test pilots from Embraer and the Brazilian Air Force – said the director of the Gripen Program, from Saab, in Brazil, Bengt Janér.
The F-39E reaches 2,400 km / h, which is twice the speed of sound. It is a multi-mission aircraft, with patrol (air-to-air), attack (air-to-ground) functions and also capable of operations against maritime targets (air-to-sea).
– He is a fighter that we can call generation 4.5+. That is, one notch below the top. Even so, we can say that it is the state of the art in terms of aviation technology, explained Nelson Düring, industry expert and editor-in-chief of the Defesanet portal.
The FX program was conceived 20 years ago. Since then, there have been delays and controversies. In 2009, already renamed FX-2, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva even announced, during the visit of then French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Brasilia, the election of Dassault Rafale. The decision was not approved by the Air Force. And in December 2013, former President Dilma Rousseff announced the agreement with the Swedish manufacturer, whose main highlight is the transfer of technology and the production of 15 of the 36 aircraft on Brazilian soil.
– The great virtue of the Gripen program is not only generating knowledge, but also having a workload. The participation of the national industry is decisive. If the Brazilian industry does not do its part, we will not receive the plane. There are 62 extremely detailed projects with technology transfer to industry and the Aeronautical Institute of Technology (ITA). Each of them points to a different area – explained the president of the Coordinating Committee of the Combat Aircraft Program (Copac), of Aeronautics, Major Brigadier of Air Valter Borges Malta.
The first 13 fighters will be produced entirely in Sweden. Another eight will be manufactured in Europe and finished in Brazil, which will actively participate in the production of the two-seaters, which had not yet been developed at the time of signing the contract.
