The first one assembled in Brazil is scheduled to be presented on March 25th at the Embraer factory in Gavião Peixoto (300 km from the capital of São Paulo).
The fighter, as the report found, is ready, but has not yet taken off.
It was not announced when it will be delivered to .
The ceremony should be attended by the Air Force and other authorities. In 2023, the president (PT) went to the event that marked the beginning of the assembly line for the Swedish Saab fighter, manufactured in Brazil in partnership with Embraer.
Currently, the Air Force has ten Gripen fighters undergoing training at Anápolis Air Base (GO). Another unit is in Gavião Peixoto. All were manufactured in and brought by ship to Brazil.
The Brazilian program foresees 36 Gripen, eight of them with two seats — they are called E and F, respectively. Of the total, 15 units will be produced in Brazil.
As shown by Sheettakes place on three platforms.
In the first and second, it has its four main parts joined together, including components made by , such as the tail cone and aerodynamic brakes. The 12 fuel tanks are sealed, and the structures are pressurized.
Afterwards, geometric measurement takes place, with the aim of checking the plane’s alignment. From there, the fighter leaves the hangar, receives a bath of anti-corrosive varnish and is painted inside, returning for final assembly on a cart that serves as the landing gear.
At this stage, it receives 35 km of wiring and 300 meters of various ducts. Vertical stabilizer, canards (the “wings” at the front of the fuselage for better control at low speed) and the entire plane’s contents come next.
Finally, they are updated throughout their useful life like those of a smartphone. The plane has its engine running and its systems tested, and then receives its final paint job. From there, it is subjected to track and flight tests, and is then declared ready for delivery.
On the 6th, the first bombs were dropped on a FAB Gripen flight, during training in Brazil.
In the exercise carried out at Natal Air Base (RN), called Operation Thor, in a joint action between the Air Force and Saab, a 925 kg conventional bomb and another 250 kg bomb equipped with a laser guidance kit were fired.
“The main objectives were to ensure the safe separation of the bombs from the fighter, validate the precision parameters with the use of a conventional bomb and employ the laser target designator in conjunction with the weaponry equipped with a guidance kit,” Saab said in a statement.
The exercises included aircraft registration number 4100, located in Gavião Peixoto. Major aviator Thiago Camargo, from Ipev (Institute for Research and Flight Testing), became the first Brazilian pilot to drop bombs with the F-39 Gripen.
In total, 11 flights were carried out, totaling around 15 hours, with both symmetrical and asymmetrical weapons configurations.
According to Mikael Olsson, head of flight testing at Saab, Brazil was the first nation to launch the MK 84 bomb and the MK 82 bomb equipped with a laser guidance kit from the aircraft.
Last November, the FAB carried out a missile launch for its new fighter. It was fired at an estimated cost of R$12.4 million, against a drone near the coast of Rio Grande do Norte.
Then, in Rio de Janeiro, the first shots were fired with a German 27 mm Gripen cannon. In the same period there was also a flight by KC-390 freighters.
