Portugal will acquire 12 A-29N Super Tucano planes to equip the Air Force

The Minister of National Defence Nuno Melo presided over the ceremony to sign the contract to acquire twelve A-29N Super Tucano planes between the Portuguese State and Brazilian firm Embraer at the OGMA facilities in Alverca.

This contract is the outcome of a decision approved in the Council of Ministers and represents an investment of around 200 million euros. The amount includes acquiring 12 planes to equip the Portuguese Air Force, a flight simulator, logistics goods and services, and the full aircraft acquisition and sustaining programme.

Nuno Melo stressed this investment is "a conquest and a strategic opportunity for the country". 

A financial return of around 75 million euros is estimated with this investment, which "will be applied in the Portuguese industry, through a series of companies that will upgrade the aircraft, retrofitting them to meet NATO’s demands and technical operating standards", the Minister of Defence highlighted. 

The modifications to the aircraft will allow them to be bought by other NATO or European Union countries at a profit for the Portuguese State. The training of foreign pilots will also take place in Portugal and this too will be "revenue, that is, we have the equipment, it will develop Portuguese industry and will settle in Portugal a large part of the investment and training", Nuno Melo stressed.

The Miniter of Defence noted the weight of the defence industries in the national economy and indicated this is "around 300 companies, 30 thousand people, and 2.5% of exports, the development of dual use goods and services, competitiveness of the corporate fabric, and the creation of qualified jobs in cutting edge fields, such as aeronautical engineering".

The A-29N Super Tucano is a multi-mission plane equipped with state-of-the-art technology for precise identification of targets, weapons systems, and a wide-ranging set of communications. 

The Minister of Economy Pedro Reis, The Air Force Chief of Staff General Cartaxo Alves, and the CEO of Embraer Bosco da Costa Junior also attended the ceremony.