70 // JANUARY 2018 #358 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com
B
Force
Report Brazilian Naval Aviation
razil has the longest
coastline in Latin
America, and the Amazon
and Paraná Basins cover a
considerable part of the country,
which means the Marinha do
Brasil (Brazilian Navy) has a
huge area of responsibility.
The Aviação Naval (Naval Aviation)
provides support to ships and
marine forces, at sea and on inland
waterways, and can also perform
its own combat missions against
naval, ground and air targets.
The Aviação Naval was created
on August 16, 1916 at Ilha das
Enxadas in Guanabara Bay, Rio
de Janeiro, and gradually evolved
until it was merged in 1941 with
the army aviation arm to create
the Força Aérea Brasileira (FAB,
Brazilian Air Force). The Aviação
Naval was reconstituted in 1955,
with the creation of a naval aviation
training facility. A year later, the
aircraft carrier HMS Vengeance was
purchased from the United Kingdom
and renamed Navío Aeródromo
Ligeiro (NAeL, light aircraft carrier)
Minas Gerais (A11), arriving in 1960.
Meanwhile, the first helicopters,
two Kawasaki Bell 47Js, had
arrived in 1957. The force acquired
some conventional aircraft too,
including Grumman Avengers
and T-28 Trojans, but in 1965 the
FAB successfully pressured for
the signature of a law prohibiting
the navy from operating fixed-
wing aircraft. The S-2A Trackers,
which had been purchased by
the navy, were instead operatedfrom the carrier by the FAB. In the
meantime, Base Aérea Naval de
São Pedro da Aldeia (São Pedro
da Aldeia naval air base) had been
created on May 11, 1961, 93 miles
(150km) east of Rio de Janeiro.
The new facility was intended to
accommodate Aviação Naval units.
After the retirement of the
Trackers in 1995, the carrier was
left without a fixed-wing air group,
but the navy began to agitate for
the removal of the law that banned
it from operating these types.
By the mid-1990s the Aviação
Naval once again began to study
the possibility of operating fixed-
wing aircraft. Despite constant
resistance from the FAB, the
situation had by now improved
and the navy began to considerthe purchase of an attack aircraft.
The Sea Harrier, Super Étendard
and A-4 were all compared but
the latter was selected since
it was easier to adapt to the
navy’s carrier, Minas Gerais.
An active search for Skyhawks
had begun by the beginning
of 1997 and after rejecting the
acquisition of former US Navy/
Marines Skyhawks, an agreement
was reached in December 1997
for the transfer of 20 A-4KU
(locally designated AF-1) and three
TA-4KU (AF-1A) Skyhawk aircraft
from the Kuwait Air Force. The
cost of the deal was $79m. On
April 8, 1998, the then President
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
signed Decree 2.538 that permitted
the Marinha do Brasil to once