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NEWS at [email protected]http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #364 JULY 2018 // 19
Latin America
Brazil takes delivery of fi rst
upgraded AF-1C
Above: AF-1C N-1022 was delivered to the Aircraft Reception Group AF-1/1A. In future it
will be used for conversion training by 1º Esquadrão de Interceptação e Ataque (VF-1, 1st
Interception and Attack Squadron). Rodrigo Durighello
THE MARINHA do Brasil
(Brazilian Navy) received
its first updated two-seat
AF-1C fighter, N -1022, at
Gavião Peixoto on April 23.
Under a contract signed in
2009, Embraer developed
a modernisation plan for
nine A-4KU and three two-
seat TA- 4KU Skyhawks,
from a total of 20 single-
seaters and three two-
seaters purchased from
Kuwait in December 19 97.
The upgrade includes
a new Elta EL/M-
radar, weapons systems,
avionics, instrument panel
with two multifunction
displays, head-up display,
radar warning receiver,
hands-on-throttle-and-stick
(HOTAS) controls, on-board
oxygen generation
system (OBOGS), energy
generation system and
mission computer. A
third VHF radio is added,
and improvements made
to the autopilot, engineand electrical systems.
While Embraer refers to
the updated aircraft as
the AF-1M, in service the
aircraft are designated
AF-1B (single-seat) and
AF-1C (two-seat).
A first modernised AF-1B
was delivered on May 26,
2015 and the second the
following April, but the
latter aircraft crashed on
July 26, 2016. Another
AF-1B is scheduled for
delivery this year.Ecuadorian Army
purchases M
ECUADOR HAS become
the first Latin American
country to acquire the M28.
PZL Mielec announced on
May 15 that it has signed an
agreement with the Aviación
del Ejército Ecuatoriano
(Ecuadorian Army Aviation)
for a single example of the
short take-off and landing
(STOL) transport. The
aircraft is scheduled for
delivery later this year.
After a pilot and technician
training course in Poland, a
PZL crew will fly the aircraft
across the North Atlantic
to Shell Mera, Ecuador,via Iceland, Greenland,
Canada, the United States
and Central America.
Ecuador chose the M
after an example conducted
a two-month demonstration
tour of seven Caribbean
and Latin American
countries last year. Flown
by two PZL pilots, the
aircraft demonstrated
landings at two remote
Ecuadorian airfields in
April 2017 – a 1,968ft
(600m) gravel runway and
a 1,738ft (530m) gravel/
grass runway – with 11
passengers on board.THE FORÇA Aérea Brasileira
(FAB, Brazilian Air Force)
intercepted a twin-engine
aircraft with half a ton of
cocaine on board. Brazilian-
registered Piper PA-34-
200T Seneca II PR-EBF was
intercepted in the region
of Aragarças, in Brazil’s
southwest Goiás state.
The Seneca II had departed
from a hacienda in the
municipality of Campo Novo,
in Mato Grosso, on April 8,
with its final destination in
neighbouring Goiás state. It
had not filed a flight plan.Since it wasn’t complying
with air defence guidelines,
the aircraft was intercepted
by an FAB A-29, but
refused to land.
After the Super Tucano
crew fired a warning
shot, the Seneca made
a forced landing on a
road near Tangará da
Serra, Mato Grosso. The
occupants of the twin-
engine aircraft fled, and
the drugs were transported
to the Federal Police
headquarters in Goiânia.
Juan Carlos CicalesiFAB/O GloboArgentine VIP 757
offered for sale
AN INTERNATIONAL
tender has been opened
to dispose of Argentina’s
former presidential 757-23A
transport, serial T- 01 (c/n
25487/470). The Boeing
was handed over to the
Fuerza Aérea Argentina
(FA A, Argentine Air Force)
in July 1992 and outfitted
with a VIP interior. It was
withdrawn from service in
2016, after about 11,flight hours. Acquired
new at a cost of $65m,
the aircraft is now offered
at $2.5m. The decision
was taken to sell the 757
rather than spend around
$23m making it suitable
for extended-range
missions, with a duration of- 5 h r s. Instead, a new VIP
transport will be procured
at a cost of around $45m.
Juan Carlos Cicalesi
Brazilian Air Force intercepts
drugs smugglers
Juan Carlos CicalesiEcuador completes T-34C operations
Above: One of the last operational FAE T-34C-1s, FAE-022, on the ramp at Salinas during the
retirement ceremony for the type on May 4. FAE
A RETIREMENT ceremony
has marked the end
of 40 years of service
by the T-34C -1 Turbo
Mentor with the Fuerza
Aérea Ecuatoriana (FAE,
Ecuadorian Air Force). The
event took place on May
4 at Base Aérea General
Ulpiano Páez, Salinas,
where the type had been
operated by the Escuadron
Entrenamiento Aérea as
part of the Escuela Superior
Militar de Aviación (ESMA)
‘Cosme Rennella Barbatto’.
The first of 20 new
production T-34C -1s were
delivered to the FAE in
February 1978. Since then,
eight have been lost in
accidents, another became
a ground instructional
airframe at Salinas and
one is preserved at the
base. At least three of
the survivors had been
withdrawn from use by
October 2014 and placed
in storage at Latacunga-
Coto, leaving just five
operational with ESMA.
Another was retired at
Salinas in July 2016.
The type accumulated
107,000 flying hours
training FAE pilots. It
has been replaced in thebasic training role with
ESMA by the Diamond
DA 20 C -1 Eclipse. The FAE
purchased 12 of the latter,
with deliveries beginning in
May 2012. After an early
attrition loss on July 2,
2013, a replacement aircraft
was acquired in 2015.
Three T-34Cs were also
operated by the Aviación
Naval Ecuatoriana
(Ecuadorian Naval Aviation),
of which one was written off
on February 17, 2004. The
remaining two had been
retired and placed in storage
at Manta by October- Dave Allport