Article Posted on : - Aug 07, 2012

Super Tucano aircraft. Photo: Embraer.

SAO PAULO (AFP): Brazil's top planemaker Embraer said it delivered four light attack A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to the Indonesian Air Force at a ceremony held on Monday at its facility located some 270 kilometres from here.

The planes are part of eight such planes ordered by the Indonesians in 2010 to replace a fleet of OV-10 Broncos.

Embraer said that the Indonesian Air Force has since ordered a second batch of eight Super Tucanos as part of their equipment modernisation drive.

The Super Tucano can be used for a broad range of missions including light attack, surveillance, air-to-air interception and counter-insurgency.

The United States earlier this year said it would reopen bidding after cancelling a contract with Embraer for 20 A-29 Super Tucano aircraft for the Afghan army.

Embraer and its US partner Sierra Nevada were awarded the contract in December, but the US Air Force called off the deal in February after a legal challenge from rival Hawker Beechcraft Corp.

Embraer is the world's third largest commercial aircraft manufacturer, behind American Boeing and Europe's Airbus. In 2010, it sold 101 commercial aircraft and 145 executive jets.