The Swedish firm Saab has sent Brazil the first dismantled Gripen F-39E fighter to be assembled at Embraer’s facilities in Gavião Peixoto, in the interior of the state of São Paulo.
Thus, the aircraft with serial number 6032 will be the first to be entirely assembled in the South American country.
Specifically, the Swedish company sent, by sea, a set of wings and the fuselage front, middle and rear sections produced at the Linkoping factory in Sweden.
The assembly work on this aircraft is expected to be completed by the end of April.
Each box containing one of the wings occupies about 40m2, and a series of special equipment is installed on both the trucks and the transport ship to ensure that these components travel safely to Brazil.
Previously, the practice had been to ship complete, tested, and airworthy aircraft after receiving minimal maintenance and some ground checks.
Currently, the Brazilian Air Force fleet comprises five Gripen F-39E single-seat fighters.
With information from Infodefensa