Brazil completes F-5 modernisation programme
Fifteen-year upgrade programme reaches its conclusion
The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) has taken delivery from Embraer of the last of 49 modernised F-5E/F Tiger II fighter aircraft, following the completion of flight tests and instrumentation certification.
The programme to modernise the Tiger fleet (designated F-5EM/FM in Brazil) with new avionics and other embedded software began in 2005. This work ‘provided a significant technological evolution for Brazilian air defence, with the implementation of new armaments and the doctrinal introduction of BVR [beyond visual range] combat’, the FAB noted on 16 October.
While many countries (such as Austria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sudan and Vietnam) have phased their F-5 fleets out of service in recent years, the FAB is the third-largest operator of the aircraft behind the South Korean and Taiwanese air forces.
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