New tigers with longer fangs.

By the time these lines are printed, deliveries of the first production F-5BRs to the Brazilian Air Force should have commenced. Although this has not been publicised, the first 'production' aircraft seen here had its maiden flight last December, during which it stayed aloft for 2.4 hours.

The rebuild of 47 F-5s by Embraer widely leaps beyond a mere upgrade or jazz-up project. This major undertaking was made necessary by the lack of funding for the development of the new FX fighter aircraft that was supposed to replace the AMX on the production line--and because the Brazilian Mirage IIIs are so old that they are almost beyond redemption.

The work is being carried out at Embraer's new, and quite spectacular, facilities in Gaviao Peixoto 340 km west of Sao Paulo, which also include a 5000-metre-long runway (this must put it in the league of the world's longest). Quite apart from a total strip-down to bare ribbing, the rebuild includes a major shifting operation around the nose bulkhead to accommodate the new Fiar Grifo radar. Indeed the nose cone of the F-5 is so sharply tapered, fitting the larger diameter antenna would have either commanded a total redesign of the cone or moving the bulkhead backward inside the cone. The former option would have required aerodynamic wing tunnel tests so the latter solution was retained. This also entailed the deletion of one of the guns for space reasons which, according to Embraer, does not impair the aircraft's attack performance, the loss being amply compensated by the increased accuracy afforded by the new radar. The latter offers an angle of view of +/- 60[degrees] compared with a total of 45[degrees] with the older radar. Elbit is in charge of all the avionics integration at Giaviao Peixoto and the other modifications are expected to turn the aircraft into the most capable fighter in Latin America. These modifications and additions include an obogs, inflight refuelling, Elisra self-defence suite, Elop head-up display, Elta Dash 4 helmet-mounted sight, a Honeywell inertial navigation system and new missiles. The choice for the short-range air-to-air wingtip missile went to the MAAI Piranha, while the outer underwing pylons will be occupied by Rafael Pythons. The Amraam was rejected because the United States' policy on these, as explained by an Embraer official, <<is that while we can buy them, they keep the missiles in America and would Fedex them to us if they deem it justified>>. The F-5BR will also be the first of this breed to be able to launch a beyond-visual range missile, but the type has not yet been selected.

Embraer has definitely become an aircraft manufacturer to be reckoned with. Quite apart from the company's immense leap in the civilian aircraft market (its latest 195 can seat up to 118), its RJ145-based surveillance (maritime patrol, sigint and early warning) aircraft are now biting hard in the under-707/767 size niche worldwide. Embraer has also set up a very successful aviation engineering facility at Sao Paulo.