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The Northrop F-5 Enthusiast Page - Home
 
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Aerea Brasileira / Brazilian
Air ForceRoundel Fin flash Credit: Roundels of the world PROCUREMENT Brazil expressed for the first time interest to buy Northrop F-5A and F-5B at the beginning of 1965, but, as for so many South American countries, no export authorisation was granted by the US government. Procurement of a new aircraft to supplement the Lockheed TF-33A used in thefighter/ground support duties was taken again under consideration during 1967 and a commission was formed to find out the best suitable fighter. The Northrop F-5A/B evaluated, sale of which was reluctantly sanctioned by the US governement due to political issues, but quickly eliminated due to insufficent performances. Considered were the GAMD Mirage IIIE, English Electric Lightning, Lockheed F-104G and the Saab J-35. The Mirage IIIE was finally selected during 1970.  The few remaining TF-33A weresupplemented, starting from 1971, by Embraer EMB-326 Xavantes. Both aircrafts were actually armed trainers but a fighter aircraft was needed to defend Brazilian air-space and support the Army. Photo: EMB-326 serial 4563 - Embraer Finally, in July 1973 it was officially announced the selection of the Northrop F-5E, after having considered the Fiat G-91Y, GAMD Mirage 5, Mc Donnel F-4. A demonstration by F-5E serial 01401 was given on September 1973 at Embraer's factory at Sao José dos Campos. On October 1974 36 Northrop F-5E "Tigers" single-seaters and 6 Northrop F-5B two-seaters were ordered under the program "Peace Amazon"; a Foreign Military Sales credit of USD 72.3 millions was obtained anfurther equipment for 47.7 millions was aqcquired separately under direct purchase. They were to equip 2 Esquadraos (Squadrons) at Santa Cruz AB and 1 Esquadrao at Porto Alegre AB.; two Northrop F-5B were to be attached to each Squadron for conversion training. tAdditional aircrafts were to be possibly procured to re-equip the 4° GrAv anf the 10° GtAv, but usual budget restrictions made this impossible. Second thoughts about the purchase of the F-5Bs, due to funding problems and the Air Forces preference to buy the new Northrop F-5F for more compatibility, had aroused in 1974 but US officials convinced the Brazilians that the aircafts were sorely needed because the majority of the pilots were to transit from vintage or low performance vehicles, like the Lockheed T-33A, the Cessna T-37C and the E,nraer T-26 Bandeirante, to the high performance F-5E. To still save money and to trimm requirements for ground technicians the FAB decided at the beginning of 1975 to equip only two Squadrons, both at Santa Cruz AB, at least for that year. Air defence was foreseen as main mission, ground attack as secondary mission. A reconnaissance capability was also foreseen, for which 6 camera noses were procured and 12 aircrafts had provision for these noses; but this was definitely cancelled for budgetary reasons. Two Lockheed KC-130H were bought to extend the rather limited radius of action of the Tiger; the F-5E's were to be equipped with air-to-air refuelling probes, though only 13 probes were fitted in USA, the rest after their arrival in Brazil. On 15-07-75 an off-set deal for a total value of USD 1.2m covering the production of 150 sets of tail units and underwing/center-fuselage weapons pylons, for Tigers built in USA, was also signed by the Brazilian company Embraer, which was also to undertake all major overhauls of Brazilian F-5's. Discussions for the possibility of licence manufacture of the entire airframe as follow-up of the EMB-326 were also held. An agreement between General Electric and the Brazilian company Celma at Petropolis (RJ) provided for the overhaul of J-85-GE-13D and -21 engines. Depot and light overhaul of the aircrafts was to be performed by the Air Force's Sao Paulo Ai Depot, while S. Cruz AB was to take care of field and light maintanance. A first group of 5 pilots started training in USA, at Williams AFB with the 425th Tactical Fighter Squadron, during the summer of 1974; additional 5 followed during September 1974. Of these, 6 qualified as instructors to form a training unit at S. Cruz AB, using F-5Bs. The first intake completed training by 12-74. Brazilian pilots, sometimes with minimal F-5experience, were in charge for the transfer from USA to Brazil. On 28-02-75 Northrop handed over the
first F-5B at
Palmdale to the Brazilian AF, arrivals in Brazil started in  F-5B 4805 a Williams AFB in May 1975. Squadron badge is not yet painted on tail. Photo: unknown Runway at Santa Cruz AB was very short, barely long enough for the Lockeed T-33A; so the aircrafts landed on delivery at the Rio de Janeiro - Galeao International Airport/Air Base, operating initially from there and from July 1975 from Anapolis AB, till 03-10-75 when Santa Cruz AB runway had been prolongued to 2'450 meters. Next delivery were F-5E 4820/4821/4822. The first 2 landed at Galeao AB on 17-06-75 but serial 4822 was lost at Belford Rox shortly before landing, due to bird strike.  Northrop F-5E 4823 at Williams AFB in May 1975, shortly before delivery. Photo: unknown Further deliveries followed at approximately four a month until 28th February 1976, when serials 4852 to 4855 safely landed at Santa Cruz AB; delivery were in-flight, starting from Williams AFB with 12 stops, including Zandery (Surinam) and Anapolis, ending at Rio de Janeiro-Galeâo, accompanied by a Lockheed C-130H support aircraft. See the serials page for additional known delivery details. An Chilean offer (unconfirmed and denied by Chile) to transfer its own F-5Fs in exchange for Brazilian responsability to train Chilean F-5 pilots was not accepted as politically unacceptable due to Chilean human rights policy. The acquisition of additional second-hand aircrafts was taken into consideration during 1980, without follow- up. On 28-12-85 an unexpected announcement from Brasilia revealed that approval had been given for the procurement of a further 26 Northrop F-5E/F to make good attrition and in order to concentrate all "original" aircrafts at Santa Cruz AB. These were to be completely refurbished aircrafts. An appealing offer was received from South Korea, where the airframes would have been modified to zero time and updated to latest standard, but unfortunately not accepted due to costs problems. Further investigations to obtain lower priced fighters led to the evaluation of Chinese F-7M Airguards and Mirage III from several sources, all dropped for various reasons. The US government offer in 1988 for 22 F-5E and 4 F-5F, named programm "Peace Amazon" was successful. Eleven of these came from former USAF aggressor Squadrons in USA, whose disbandment was started in August 1988 and completed in April 1989, and fifteen from the 425th Squadron, disbanded in April 1989. The aircrafts were used first to train Brazilian pilots in USA and were delivered to Brazil between 01-10-88 and 01-10-89. The first six departed from Nellis AFB, all the following from Homestead AFB with final destination Canoas AB. Brazilian pilots ferried them in 8 stretches, supported by a KC-137, precious to keep contact with the civilian air traffic authorities along the route as the fighters were not equipped with VHF radios. Unfortunately these aircrafts were in poor conditions and needed a thorough overhaul.  F-5E with dual Brazilian/USAF serials 4859/1386 at Williams on 14-04-89. Photo: archives The Northrop F-5 Enthusiast All "new" aircrafts went to the 1°/14° GAv at Canoas AB (Porto Alegre), the only Tiger Squadron now exclusively tasked with air defence, though the basic Emerson APQ-153 radar was of limited value. The "original" aircrafts were returned to the 1° Grupo de Caça. Operation of the early Northrop F-5B was slowed down when the more advanced F-5F were received. By the end of July 1995 only 2 F-5B remained operational; in March 1996 all were up for sale and transferred to Campo de Marte for storage. A rather unhappy story followed. Former Brazilian AF colonel Gustavo Adolfo Franco Pereira bought the 5 aircrafts at an auction for the price of USD 3.1 millions and paid a deposit of 155 millions Reals, transaction financed by an American friend, Richard Boulais. Pereira even bought an hangar at Canpo de Marte to store the trainers. The auction was cancelled in several later auctions, a direct sale was done and again cancelled; the aircrafts were never handed over to the (almost) new onwer. The main problem was the "end user certificate" required by the USA as the aircafts were of US origin, need for which the buyer didn't recognise, as the US law regarding it was approved in 1976 while the aircrafts were bought by Brazil in 1973. 
In the meantime the two-seaters had lost their serials and any inscription, were coded from 1 to 5 and repainted, with the upper surfaces dark grey, the lower surfaces in clear grey. They were used as mobile static exhibition objects, as shown on this picture taken at Campo de Marte on 23-10-05. Photo: spotter.com.br Mr Pereira discussed its rights as owner with the Air Force ever since 1996; he applied in December 2006 to the Brazilian justice to obtain either the aircrafts or refund of his down-payment. The Federal Court finally judged that the aircrafts still belonged to the Air Force and they were put on exhibition at varios places. 
One, repainted in the original 1975 colours, initially coded "01" and later serialled 4800, was assigned to the Museu Aerospacial at Campo dos Alfonsos and handed-over on 18-08-06. Here it is seen at PAMA- SP while being prepared for exposiiton. Photo: unknown Fate of two others is known: serial 4802, camouflaged, as a travelling exhibit, serial 4805 at Santa Cruz AB mounted on a pole at Santa Cruz AB keeping its grey colours. ANY DETAIL ABOUT SERIAL/DATE/LOCALITY OF THE OTHER AIRCRAFTS IS MOST WELCOME! A new project regarding the rest of the fleet was launched during the year 2001: upgrading the available aircrafts to a fourth generation fighter standard; this resulted in the Embraer/Northrop F-5EM and F-5FM models. You can read details of the project unde the Northrop F-5 Enthusiast page titled upgrades. The Air Force contemporanously realised that the number of trainers (3 F-5F) was insufficent for conversion and refresher training of new and old pilots. Additional new aircrafts (both in double- and singleseater form) were to be operated by a new Operational Conversion Unit. During the year 2002 it looked among other F-5 operators for the best aircrafts available for sale. A first offer of Saudi Arabian Tigers by Boeing, demanding the purchase of 2 F-5Es for every F-5F purchased was rejected. Swiss top maintained Northrop F-5Es were also for sale, bu no F-5F was available. Help came from NorthropGrumman's subsidiary Tiger Century Aircraft which had already projected to convert China/Taiwan AF single- to doubleseaters and offered to convert 8 of the 16 Swiss aircrafts into two-seaters. Memorandums of Understanding were signed on 30-09-02 and 15-10-02 between the Swiss "Gruppe für Rüstungsdienste" (Armament Group) and the Brazilian AF. Price for each aircraft was to be USD 0.5m "as-is". The Brazilian AF cancelled, in a change of mind, the plan to modify single- to twoseaters and requested on 14-01-03 the sale of Swiss F-5Fs. An offer for 2 F-5Fs and 14 F-5Es was of no interest to the Brazilian side. Finally, on 01-04-03, a new search for 8 F-5F airframes was started with Singapore, Korea, China/Taiwan as well as Saudi Arabia. Three Northrop F-5F and six F-5E from Saudi Arabia were selected and a contract was signed on 29-12-05 between the Brazilian Aeronautical Commission in Washington and the company C&C International, acting as a mediator, for the price of USD 24m to be paid in three instalments of USD 10m in 2006, USD 13m in 2007 and USD 1m in 2008. Brazilian pilots were to fly them from Riyadh to Recife via Dakar and other stations. No information about the status of the deal or the arrival in Brazil of these aircrafts was given until the end of September 2009, when, surprise!, an official announcement informed that a contract had been signed for the acquisition of 4 Northrop F-5E, 4 F-5EM (which had received a limited upgrade) and 3 Northrop F-5F from Jordan for USD 21m, through the mediator Jordan Aeronautical Systems Company. The announcement gave also information about the cancelled Saudi purchase: the aircrafts were in poor condition; there was difficulty in obtaining the "end-user" certificate needed according to the original pruchasing contract and the possibility that these planes might not be available being part of the new Saudi Eurofighter purchase contract. 
A first batch of 3 F-5Es arrived at Nine former Jordanian F-5s (7 silver colours and 2 camouflaged were visible at Parque de Material Aeronautico de Marte on 25-10-09. Complete General Electric J-85 engine maintenance has been undertaken since 2002 by Focal (RJ), while Parque de Material Aeronautico de Marte provides full structural and systems maintenance on the Tigers. Units - click hereIn-flight refuelling, training, exercises and special colours - click here Upgrades - click here |