São Paulo – The United Arab Emirates are interested in buying 24 Super Tucano, the military aircraft manufactured by the Brazilian company Embraer. According to information from the Ministry of Defense, the negotiation includes the Ministry itself, Embraer, Itamaraty (Ministry of External Relations) and the Emirates government.
The Ministry of Defense said that the negotiation is still in the early “stages”. Some aircraft, however, could be delivered in short notice, at the request of the Emirates.
According to the Ministry, there were talks about the issue last Thursday (01), the day of president Dilma Rousseff’s inauguration for her second term, and also on the following day, during the Minister of Defense office handover ceremony from ambassador Celso Amorim to Bahia’s former governor Jacques Wagner.
The talks have been disclosed by Air Force commander Juniti Saito to newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, according to a report published last Friday (2nd).
The UAE’s minister of Energy, Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei, represented the Arab country at president Rousseff’s inaugural ceremony.
When contacted, Embraer said it does not comment on potential deals. The Brazilian Ministry of External Relations had not come forward either as of the completion of this report, at 8pm this Monday (5th).
Light attack
The Super Tucano is operated by the air forces of several countries, such as Colombia, Ecuador, United States and Mauritania, as well as by the Brazilian Air Force (FAB).
Super Tucano is a turboprop aircraft employed as a light attack unit and in advanced pilot training. It can be fitted with canons, machine guns, missiles and up to 1.5 ton of weaponry.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani & Gabriel Pomerancblum
