Brazil’s Embraer announced on 26 August 2024 that it has sold up to six A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to the Uruguayan Air Force (FAU).
The contract, which is part of a fleet renewal programme to expand the FAU’s operational capacity, provides for the acquisition of one aircraft plus the commitment to acquire five more, with deliveries scheduled from 2025, including mission equipment, integrated logistics services and a flight simulator.
With this order Uruguay thus becomes the sixth nation to operate the A-29 Super Tucano in South America, alongside Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay. The aircraft is used for various missions, such as the interdiction of illegal activities, border monitoring, reconnaissance and advanced training. A regional fleet of more than 160 Super Tucanos operate in the most austere and demanding environments in South America, “from the humid and warm Amazon rainforest, the cold regions of southern Chile to the heat of the desert further north, from mountainous regions of Colombia and Ecuador to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts”, Embraer noted in a press release.
“We are honoured by the decision of the Uruguayan Air Force, another South American nation to choose the A-29 Super Tucano: an aircraft that is a reference in its segment in the international market,” Bosco da Costa Junior, president and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security, was quoted as saying. “With this acquisition, Uruguay will have differentiated capabilities that will greatly contribute to the surveillance of its borders and increase the FAU’s operational readiness.”
Uruguayan Minister of National Defense Armando Castaingdebat was quoted as saying, “With this addition, we are taking a great leap forward in improving our defence capabilities and responding to the needs of controlling our territorial sovereignty and fighting crime in all its forms.”
The commander-in-chief of the FAU, General Luis H. De León, added, “It should be noted that since 1981 our country has not acquired new combat aircraft. It is precisely for this reason that the aforementioned purchase of aircraft will generate great motivation and professional satisfaction within the air force.”
The FAU currently operates a fleet of A-37B Dragonfly light attack aircraft as its main offensive airborne capability, although only a handful of these aircraft, 19 of which were delivered from 1976, are believed to be operational at any one time. The FAU has been looking to phase out its A-37Bs since 2016.
