page_title: Brazilian Armed Forces
section_title: Brazilian Air Force
hierarchical_section_title: Brazilian Armed Forces / Brazilian Air Force
caption_attribution_description: English: A pair of Brazilian Air Force Embraer A-29 Super Tucanos in flight over the Amazon Rainforest. Português: Aeronave A-29 Super Tucano em voo sobre a Floresta Amazônica.
context_page_description: The Brazilian Armed Forces is the unified military organization comprising the Brazilian Army, the Brazilian Navy and the Brazilian Air Force.
  Brazil's armed forces are the second largest in the Americas, after the United States, and the largest in Latin America by the level of military equipment, with 334,500 active-duty troops and officers. The armed forces are expanding their presence in the Amazon under the Northern Corridor program. In 1994 Brazilian troops joined United Nations peacekeeping forces in five countries. Brazilian soldiers were in Haiti from 2004 until 2017, leading the United Nations Stabilization Mission.
  The Brazilian military, especially the army, has become more involved in civic-action programs, education, health care, and constructing roads, bridges, and railroads across the nation. Although the 1988 constitution preserves the external and internal roles of the armed forces, it places the military under presidential authority. Thus, the new charter changed the manner in which the military could exercise its moderating power.
context_section_description: The Brazilian Air Force (Portuguese: Força Aérea Brasileira, [ˌfoʁsaˑˈɛɾjɐ bɾaziˈlejɾɐ], also known as FAB, [ˈfabi] or [ˌɛfiaˈbe]) is the second-largest air force in the Americas (behind only the United States) and has around 70,000 active personnel. The FAB is subdivided into four operational commands:
  I FAE (I Força Aérea) Advanced fixed and rotary wings instruction; II FAE (II Força Aérea)
  Maritime patrol, SAR, helicopters transport roles and Navy support; III FAE (III Força Aérea)
  Fighter command, it has all first-line combat assets under its control – fighter, attack and reconnaissance aircraft; IV FAE (IV Força Aérea) – responsible for transport missions.
  The Aeronautic Ministry was created on January 20, 1941, and absorbed the former Army and Navy aviation under its command. In 1944 the Brazilian Air Force joined Allied forces in Italy and operated there for about seven months, this was the FAB baptism in a real conflict. In 1999 after a creation of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Aeronautic Ministry changed its designation to Aeronautic Command, but no big changes happened to the air force structure, it kept almost the same organization it had before.
  The biggest, and most important, program of the FAB in the last years is the SIPAM (Sistema de Proteção da Amazônia – Amazonian Protection System), the operational part of the SIPAM is known by SIVAM (Sistema de Vigilância da Amazônia – Amazon Vigilance System). The SIVAM is a huge network of radars, sensors and personnel integrated to guard and protect the Amazon Rainforest and its resources. In 2002 the Embraer R-99A AEW&C equipped with the Ericsson Erieye Airborne Radar and the R-99B SR (Electronic Intelligence Gathering version) entered service. The R-99 fleet is one of the principal components of the system, the aircraft are based at Anápolis AB near Brasília and fly 24 hours a day over the Amazonian region.
  The backbone of the Brazilian combat aviation made up of three types, the Northrop F-5E/F, the Embraer/Aermacchi A-1A/B (AMX) and the Embraer A/T-29 Super Tucano. The F-5s are under a modernisation program called F-5BR program, the aircraft official designation is F-5M. The upgrade is being carried out by Embraer and Elbit; it includes a new avionics suite, a full glass cockpit with three MFDs, HOTAS configuration and a new multimode radar, the Italian Grifo F. The first F-5EM was handed over on September 21, 2005, and it is scheduled at a rate of two aircraft being delivered each month from that date onwards.
  The A-1s are the main attack/ bomber aircraft of the FAB. There are three squadrons operating the A-1, one of them equipped with the RA-1 variant having a reconnaissance function as its primary role, but retaining all attack capabilities of the A-1. The RA-1s are equipped with RAFAEL's RecceLite reconnaissance system. Like the F-5, the A-1 is under a MLU (Mid Life Upgrade) program as well, this upgrade giving a high commonality between the avionics of the A-1M (MLU aircraft designation), the F-5M and the newly introduced Embraer A/T-29.
  With the Mirage III withdrawn, the air defence of Brasília and region is done temporarily by a mix of F-5s from 1st GAv and 1st/14th GAv until 10 Mirage 2000Cs and two Mirage 2000B bought from French Air Force surplus stocks arrive at Anápolis. The Mirage 2000s are meant to be in service until at least 2015, when the Brazilian Air Force foresee the (postponed) F-X entering in service.
  To replace the Embraer P-95 Bandeirulha in the maritime patrol duties, 12 Lockheed P-3A Orions have been bought from US Navy surplus and eight (with an option for a ninth) of them are being upgraded by EADS CASA in Spain, the remainder are to be used as spare parts source. On the same day of contract signature for the P-3BR work, 29 April 2005, EADS CASA was also awarded a contract to supply 12 C-295M medium transport aircraft. Deliveries started in 2006 with the first aircraft arriving in October 2006. The first three C-295s, designated C-105A Amazonas in Brazilian service, were commissioned into service in a formal ceremony at Base A
caption: A-29 Super Tucano patrolling the Amazon rainforest.
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