The Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano (), also named ALX or A-29, is a Brazilian turboprop light attack and counter-insurgency aircraft designed and built by Embraer as a development of the Embraer EMB 312 Tucano. The A-29 Super Tucano carries a wide variety of weapons, including precision-guided munitions, and was designed to be a low-cost system operated in low-threat environments.

In addition to production in Brazil, Embraer assembles A-29 Super Tucanos in Jacksonville, Florida, in partnership with Sierra Nevada Corporation, for American and Foreign Military Sales customers. In Portugal, Embraer and the Portuguese State have signed a letter of intent for the potential establishment of an A-29N final assembly line; the first Portuguese A-29Ns were delivered at OGMA's facilities.

Design and development

During the mid-1980s, Embraer was working on the Short Tucano alongside a new version designated the EMB-312G1, carrying the same Garrett engine. The EMB-312G1 prototype flew for the first time in July 1986. However, the project was dropped because the Brazilian Air Force was not interested in it. Nonetheless, the lessons from recent combat use of the aircraft in Peru and Venezuela led Embraer to keep up the studies. Besides a trainer, it researched a helicopter attack version designated "helicopter killer" or EMB-312H..

The study was connected to Embraer's unsuccessful bid, with Northrop, for the US military Joint Primary Aircraft Training System program. A proof-of-concept prototype flew for the first time in September 1991. The aircraft features a fuselage extension with the addition of sections before and after of the cockpit to restore its center of gravity and stability, a strengthened airframe, cockpit pressurization, and a stretched nose to house the more powerful PT6A-67R () engine. Two new prototypes with the PT6A-68A () engine were built in 1993. The second prototype flew for the first time in May 1993, and the third prototype flew in October 1993.

The request for a light attack aircraft was part of the Brazilian government's Amazon Surveillance System project. This aircraft would fly with the R-99A and R-99B aircraft then in service, intercept illegal flights, and patrol Brazil's borders. The ALX project was then created by the Brazilian Air Force, which needed a military trainer to replace the Embraer EMB 326GB Xavante. The new aircraft was to be suited to the Amazon region, with high temperature, moisture, and precipitation, and a low military threat. The ALX was specified as a turboprop engine plane with a long range and autonomy, able to operate night and day, in any meteorological conditions, and able to land on short airfields lacking infrastructure.

In August 1995, the Brazilian Ministry of Aeronautics awarded Embraer a $50 million contract for ALX development. Two EMB-312Hs were updated to serve as ALX prototypes. These made their initial flights in their new configuration in 1996 and 1997, respectively. The initial flight of a production-configured ALX, further modified from one of the prototypes, occurred on 2 June 1999. The second prototype was brought up to a two-seater configuration and performed its first flight on 22 October 1999. The changes were so considerable that the type was given a new designation, the EMB-314 Super Tucano."The Market for Military Fixed-Wing Trainer Aircraft." Forecast international. Forecast International, April 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012. The total cost of the aircraft development was quoted to be between US$200 million and US$300 million..

The aircraft differs from the baseline EMB-312 Tucano trainer aircraft in several respects. It is powered by a more powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68C engine (compared to the EMB-312's powerplant); has a strengthened airframe to sustain higher g loads and increase fatigue life to 8,000–12,000 hours in operational environments; a reinforced landing gear to handle greater takeoff weights and heavier stores load, up to ; Kevlar armour protection; and two internal, wing-mounted .50 cal. machine guns, with 200 rounds of ammunition each."Embraer Super Tucano – Multi Role" Retrieved 17 August 2013.

It has the capacity to carry ordnance on five weapon hardpoints, including Giat NC621 20 mm cannon pods, Mk 81/82 bombs, MAA-1 Piranha air-to-air missiles (AAMs), BLG-252 cluster bombs, and SBAT-70/19 or LAU-68A/G rocket pods on its underwing stations; and has a night-vision goggle-compatible "glass cockpit" with hands-on-throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) controls; provision for a datalink; a video camera and recorder; an embedded mission-planning capability; forward-looking infrared; chaff/flare dispensers; missile approach warning receiver systems and radar warning receivers; and zero-zero ejection seats.Scott, Major Roberto C. "CAS- A Turboprop Solution for the COIN Fight." DTIC, 17 April 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2012. The structure is corrosion-protected. The side-hinged canopy has a windshield able to withstand bird strike impacts up to ."Embraer Offers Innovative Multi-purpose Military Turboprop Aircraft". Embraer, 22 February 2000. Retrieved 22 August 2012.

In 1996, Embraer selected the Israeli firm Elbit Systems to supply the mission avionics for the ALX. For this contract, Elbit was chosen over GEC-Marconi and Sextant Avionique. The Israeli company supplies such equipment as the mission computer, head-up displays, and navigation and stores management systems."Brazil chooses Elbit for AL-X avionics." Flight Global, 1 January 1997. Retrieved 5 January 2012.

In October 2010, the Super Tucano A-29B passed 48,000 hours of full-scale wing-fuselage structural fatigue tests, conducted since July 2005 by the Aeronautical Systems Division, part of the Aeronautics and Space Institute at the Structural Testing Laboratory. The tests involve a complex system of hydraulics and tabs that apply pressure to the aircraft structure, simulating air pressure from flying at varying altitudes. The simulation continued for another year to complete the engine-fatigue life test and crack-propagation studies for a damage-tolerance analysis program of conducted by Embraer and the Aeronautics and Space Institute...

Embraer developed an advanced training and support system suite called Training Operational Support System (TOSS) an integrated computational tool composed of four systems: computer-based training enabling the student to rehearse the next sortie on a computer simulation; an aviation mission planning station, which uses the three-dimensional (3D) visuals to practice planned missions and to check intervisibility between aircraft and from aircraft and other entities; a mission debriefing station employing real aircraft data to play back missions for review and analysis; and a flight simulator."Embraer Formalizes the Delivery of the Data Communication Protocol to Brazil's Aeronautics Command". Embraer, 29 May 2009. Retrieved 22 August 2012. MPS and MDS was enhanced with MAK's 3D visualization solution to support airforces pre-existing data, including GIS, Web-based servers and a plug-in for custom terrain formats.

In 2012, Boeing Defense, Space & Security was selected to integrate the Joint Direct Attack Munition and Small Diameter Bomb to the Super Tucano. In 2013, Embraer Defense and Security disclosed that its subsidiary, OrbiSat, was developing a new radar for the Super Tucano. A Colombian general said that a future modernization could include an advanced side-looking synthetic-aperture radar capable of locating ground targets smaller than a car.

In April 2023, the manufacturer announced the A-29N, a variant intended for NATO nations. The A-29N will include NATO-required equipment, data link communications and be fitted for single-pilot operation. Available simulators used for training will incorporate virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality technology.

In November 2024, the Brazilian Air Force announced a contract with Embraer for the modernization of 68 aircraft to the new A-29M standard, which includes some capabilities of fourth and fifth generation aircraft such as the inclusion of a data link, new digital head-up display, expansion of the range of guided weapons, integration of a helmet-mounted display, the installation of chaff and flares, laser rangefinder and finally a wide-area display similar to those of the new Brazilian Saab JAS-39 Gripen fighters. In April 2025, Embraer announced modifications to enhance anti-drone capabilities of the aircraft.

Operational history Afghanistan In 2011, the Super Tucano was declared the winner of the US Light Air Support contract competition over the Hawker Beechcraft AT-6B Texan II. The contract was cancelled in 2012 citing Hawker Beechcraft's appeal when its proposal was disqualified during the procurement process, but rewon in 2013. Twenty of these light attack aircraft were purchased for the Afghan Air Force (AAF).. The first four aircraft arrived in Afghanistan in January 2016, with a further four due before the end of 2016. Combat-ready Afghan A-29 pilots graduated from training at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, and returned to Afghanistan to represent the first of 30 pilots trained by the 81st Fighter Squadron at Moody AFB. A fleet of 20 A-29s would be in place by 2018, according to a senior U.S. defense official. The Pentagon purchased the Super Tucanos in a $427 million contract with Sierra Nevada Corp. and Embraer, with the aircraft produced at Embraer's facility on the grounds of Jacksonville International Airport in Jacksonville, Florida.

The first four aircraft arrived at Hamid Karzai International Airport on 15 January 2016. Prior to the A-29's delivery, the Afghan Air Force lacked close air support aircraft other than attack helicopters. In 2017, the AAF conducted roughly 2,000 airstrike sorties, about 40 a week. The AAF had a record high in October with more than 80 missions in a single week. By March 2018, the AAF had 12 A-29s in service. On 22 March 2018, the AAF deployed a GBU-58 Paveway II 250 lb (113.4 kg) bomb from an A-29 in combat, marking the first time the service had dropped a laser-guided weapon against the Taliban."Afghan A-29 Drops First Laser-Guided Bomb on Taliban" Military.com, 27 March 2018

Fall of Kabul In August 2021, during the 2021 Taliban offensive and the Fall of Kabul, some Afghan pilots fled the country, taking an unknown number of aircraft, including A-29s, with them. An Afghan Air Force A-29 crashed in Uzbekistan's Surxondaryo Region; two pilots ejected and landed with parachutes. Initially it was reported shot down by Uzbekistan air defenses, then the Prosecutor General's office in Uzbekistan issued a statement saying that an Afghan military plane had collided mid-air with an Uzbekistan Air Force MiG-29, finally it retracted the statement about the mid-air collision. At least one Super Tucano was captured by the Taliban in the Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport.

Brazil

In August 2001, the Brazilian Air Force awarded Embraer a contract for 76 Super Tucano / ALX aircraft with options for a further 23. A total of 99 aircraft were acquired from a contract estimated to be worth U$214.1 million; 66 of these aircraft are two-seater versions, designated A-29B. The remaining 33 aircraft are the single-seat A-29 ALX version. The first aircraft was delivered in December 2003. By September 2007, 50 aircraft had entered service. The 99th, and last, aircraft was delivered in June 2012.

Sivam programme