Brazil Rolls Out First Supersonic Fighter Built on Its Soil

A decade after signing a $4 billion contract with Sweden’s Saab, Brazil is about to unveil the result: the first supersonic fighter jet ever assembled in Latin America. President Lula will present the Brazil Gripen F-39E, designated FAB 4109, at Embraer’s Gavião Peixoto plant on Wednesday, The Rio Times, the Latin American financial news outlet, reports.

Brazil Gripen Production Changes the Equation

The aircraft matters less for what it is than for what it represents. All ten Gripens currently flying with the Brazilian Air Force at Anápolis base were built in Sweden and shipped by sea. FAB 4109 was assembled entirely at Gavião Peixoto, roughly 300 kilometers from São Paulo, using production lines established through the technology transfer that won Saab the contract over Boeing and Dassault in 2013.

Brazilian engineers participated in the Gripen’s design from the start, since the aircraft was still in development when the deal was signed. Embraer workers now build the forward and rear fuselage, tail cone, braking system, and cockpit instruments. Porto Alegre-based AEL Sistemas produces the head-up display and wide-area display screens.

From Domestic Assembly to Export Platform

The Gavião Peixoto line is not just building for Brazil. Colombia signed a $3.4 billion contract in November 2025 for 17 Gripens, with deliveries running through 2032, making it the largest military purchase in Colombian history. Saab plans to scale global production beyond 36 aircraft per year, and the Brazilian facility will contribute directly to that expansion.

Of Brazil’s original order for 36 jets — 28 single-seat F-39Es and eight two-seat F-39Fs — 15 will be produced domestically. The production infrastructure is designed to be permanent, according to the project manager, Colonel Claucio Oliveira Marques, who emphasized that the facility will not be dismantled after the initial order is filled.

Brazil Gripen Fits a Broader Defense Push

The rollout comes alongside the launch of Brazil’s first Defense Industrial Base Catalog, listing 154 domestic companies and 364 products ranging from armored vehicles to monitoring systems. Defense Minister José Múcio noted that Brazilian defense exports hit consecutive records in 2024 and 2025, with authorized sales surpassing $3.4 billion last year.

The Gripen has also rapidly expanded its operational capabilities in Brazil. Recent milestones include certification for aerial refueling with Embraer’s KC-390 tanker, the first live firing of the long-range MBDA Meteor missile, and the completion of Operation Thor — its first bomb drops on Brazilian territory. Since February, the Gripen has been performing air defense alert missions at Anápolis.

Lula will also view a demonstration of the eVTOL prototype developed by Eve Air Mobility, an Embraer subsidiary backed by BNDES financing. Embraer’s 5-kilometer runway at Gavião Peixoto — the longest in the Southern Hemisphere — will host both displays.

The Strategic Calculation Behind the Brazil Gripen

The ceremony lands at a moment when Brazil’s military leaders have presented Lula with an R$800 billion ($140 billion) modernization plan through 2040. The Gripen program is the most visible proof of concept for the strategy at the plan’s core: build domestically rather than buy off the shelf.

The same logic drives the Navy’s submarine program at Itaguaí and the Army’s Guarani armored vehicle project. Wednesday’s rollout is designed to show that the approach works — and that Brazil’s defense ambitions can generate industrial capacity that outlasts any single weapons contract.

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