Indonesia purchases eight Embraer Super Tucano jets
Valor Econômico
Embraer has just closed the sale of eight Super Tucano jets, advanced training and light attack aircraft, for the Air Force of Indonesia.
The information was disclosed yesterday by the Air Force commander, Brigadier Juniti Saito, during the certification event for the VSB-30 sub-orbital rocket and the test of the engine of the VS-40 sounding rocket, at the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (DCTA, in Portuguese) in São José dos Campos. Asked by Valor, Embraer informed through its spokesperson it would not make any announcements on the operation.
With this new sale contract, the third international supply of the Super Tucano in 2009, the orders of the aircraft this year amount to 40 units. The sales of the model already amount to 177 units, 100 of which have already been delivered - 75 for the Brazilian Air Force (FAB, in Portuguese) and 25 for Colombia.
The contract value with Indonesia was not disclosed either, but the basic version of the Super Tucano costs nearly US$ 10 million. The growth of the sales of the Super Tucano should also increase the participation of the area of defense in the earnings of Embraer. In 2008, for example, the airplane was responsible for more than half of the exports of this segment of the company, which amounted to US$ 504 million. The FAB, according to the Commander Saito, receives royalties for the sale of the Super Tucano, since it funded the development of the aircraft and acquired 99 units, a project evaluated at R$ 449.7 million (US$ 261.5 million).
The sales of the Brazilian defense and attack jet can still make a great jump this year, in case the United States Air Force (USAF) decides for the purchase of an initial lot of 100 airplanes. The possibility of the business, according to the Minister of the Defense, Nelson Jobin, depends on the formalization of a cooperation agreement in the area of defense, which is been negotiated between Brazil and the Government of the United States.
Regardless of such agreement, Embraer is taking part in of the process of selection open by USAF, in the end of July, for the purchase of 100 light attack turboprop aircrafts, in the category of the Super Tucano. Embraer is pointed by specialists of the sector as the great favorite of the competition, since the Super Tucano is the only model in the world with actual operation in anti-guerrilla missions in Colombia, country that has 25 airplanes in its fleet.