Brazil receives series-production F-39 Gripen fighters

The four series-production F-39E fighters received by Brazil on 24 November join the F-39E FTI aircraft received in 2019. (Sgt Bianca/FAB)

The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) has achieved a major milestone in the ambitious and complex effort to modernise its air combat capability with the formal receipt of an initial four series-production Saab F-39E Gripen multimission fighters.

The jets were accepted by FAB Commander Lieutenant Brigadier Carlos de Almeida Baptista Junior at the Saab Aeronautics plant in Linköping, Sweden, on 24 November.

The aircraft will be subsequently be shipped to Brazil for the FAB's Jaguar Squadron, located at the Anápolis base of Wing 2 in the State of Goiás.

The FAB's Procurement and Acquisition Center (COPAC) purchased a package of 36 Gripen NG aircraft (28 single-seat F-39Es and eight dual-seat F-39Fs) as well as two flight simulators on 24 October 2014 for SEK38.9 billion (USD4.25 billion) to meet the FAB's F-X2 requirement.

The last two fighters are scheduled to be delivered to the FAB in 2026.

Other contracts associated with the Gripen fleet include a USD9.1 billion offset deal on 24 October 2014; a five-year, SEK541 million contractor logistics support (CLS) contract on 18 December 2014; a USD245.3 million contract for weapons on 23 April 2015; and a financing contract on 25 August 2015.

A single-seat F-39E Flight Test Instrumentation (FTI) aircraft was delivered to Brazil in September 2019 for a flight test campaign in Sweden and Brazil.