DefenseHub · Thursday · Military Systems · October 15, 2026
On October 6, at 10:21 local time, a Gripen E with Brazilian Air Force tail number 4109 took off from Embraer's airfield at Gavião Peixoto, in the interior of São Paulo state, on its first flight. Saab's chief test pilot, Jakob Högberg, was at the controls. It is the first Gripen fighter built outside Sweden and the first of 15 that Embraer will assemble for the Brazilian Air Force. The flight settles one question: Brazil can put a modern supersonic fighter together and get it into the air. The harder question is how much of the Gripen Brazil now controls. (Saab; Embraer)
What We Know
Brazil signed for 36 Gripens in October 2014: 28 single-seat F-39Es and eight two-seat F-39Fs, in a contract reported at between $4 billion and $4.5 billion. Deliveries began in 2020. The ten jets now flying with the First Air Defense Group at Anápolis were all built in Sweden. Aircraft 4109 was unveiled at Gavião Peixoto on March 25 in a ceremony attended by President Lula, and it will go through acceptance flights before joining them. (Valor International; The Aviationist; Saab)
The purchase came with a technology transfer program, and its results are on the public record. Saab says it trained more than 350 Brazilian engineers, technicians and pilots, many of them in Linköping, so that Brazil could "develop, produce and maintain" the fighter over a service life of 30 to 40 years. The program has a physical base. At Gavião Peixoto, the Gripen Design and Development Network opened in 2016, next to a flight test center. In São Bernardo do Campo, Saab built a plant to make structural sections such as the tail cone, air brakes, wing box and parts of the fuselage. According to Saab, the design and flight test centers completed every transfer activity planned for their areas in December 2025. (Saab; Saab)
Brazilian companies also supply parts of the aircraft the pilot works with. In a June 2026 reply to Congress, the Air Force said that AEL Sistemas, a Brazilian company owned by Israel's Elbit Systems, supplies the F-39's head-up display, its helmet-mounted display and the Wide Area Display that fills the cockpit panel. The two-seat Gripen F, which first flew in Linköping on August 28 with a Brazilian Air Force test pilot aboard, was developed with Brazil as launch customer. (Ministry of Defense reply to the Chamber of Deputies; Saab)
The same reply marks the limits. Answering questions from federal deputy Luiz Philippe de Orleans e Bragança, the Air Force wrote that Saab "is the design authority of the project", meaning the company that owns the aircraft's master design and must approve changes to it, and that Saab manages the network of suppliers, and that changing items such as avionics and engines in a fighter "is not trivial" and often requires complex redesign. The engine is a General Electric F414, made in the United States. Key Aero reported in 2024 that apart from maintenance training "there is no major technology transfer to Brazil for the engine." The radar, the Raven ES-05, comes from Leonardo. (Ministry of Defense reply; Key Aero)
Operational Context
Brazil picked the Gripen in December 2013 over Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet and Dassault's Rafale, and the transfer offer weighed heavily in that choice. The aim was a fighter Brazil could maintain and upgrade for decades with its own engineers, rather than one that went back to the seller for every change. The first flight shows that the assembly line works. The harder test will come when the Air Force wants to add a Brazilian weapon, new software or a new sensor. (Valor International)
The record so far puts Brazil in the middle. It has an assembly line, a design team that works on the aircraft's systems, a flight test center and domestic suppliers for the cockpit. It lacks the master design, builds neither the engine nor the radar, and needs Saab's approval to change the aircraft or its suppliers. That is far more than a customer who buys finished jets, and well short of a country that designs its own fighter. Very few countries build their own fighter engines, so the engine dependency was part of the bargain from the start.
The line now has its first chance to work for a foreign customer. Colombia signed with Saab in November 2025 for 17 Gripen E/Fs, worth about €3.1 billion, with deliveries planned from 2026 to 2032. In March, Saab chief executive Micael Johansson said the company was considering building part of that order at Gavião Peixoto: "My view is to do as much as possible here. We haven't decided yet." Colombia's new government is now reviewing the contract's payment terms and industrial benefits, and the commander of the Colombian Aerospace Force said on October 2 that the contract remains in force. (Valor International; Aviacionline)
Saab and Embraer are also preparing for more work. On July 21 they signed a heads of agreement, a framework that is not yet a binding contract, for the potential production of 20 more Gripens at Gavião Peixoto, for Brazil and for export, and said they intend to sign the contract this year. Embraer describes the Brazilian line as a complement to Saab's final assembly line in Linköping. (Embraer)
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My Read
Brazil owns part of the Gripen's technology, and that part is real. It has trained more than 350 people, it runs a design center that has finished its planned transfer, it builds the cockpit displays and it now assembles the aircraft. That goes well beyond final assembly.
In fighter programs, though, ownership has a precise meaning: the right to change the aircraft without asking anyone. Brazil does not have it. Saab holds design authority, the engine is American and the radar is not Brazilian. To integrate a new weapon or replace a supplier, the Air Force still needs Saab, and for anything touching U.S. content it may also need Washington. Brazil took on that dependency when it chose the Gripen.
The next five years will show whether the transfer pays off. If the 20 additional aircraft are contracted and part of Colombia's order is built at Gavião Peixoto, Embraer will be making Gripens for paying customers, which would be the strongest evidence that the knowledge took root. If both stall, the line will finish its 15 jets and the engineers trained for a generation of work will have little left to build. Ten aircraft delivered in six years leaves a long road to 36.
What to Watch
Will aircraft 4109 complete its acceptance flights and reach Anápolis, and how quickly will the other 14 Brazilian-built jets follow?
Will Saab and Embraer turn the July agreement for 20 more Gripens into a signed contract before the end of 2026?
Will Colombia's government keep its 17-aircraft order, and will Saab assign part of it to Gavião Peixoto?
Will the Air Force announce the integration of a Brazilian weapon or data link on the F-39E, the clearest test of what Brazilian engineers can change?
When will the first two-seat F-39F arrive in Brazil?
Recommended Sources
Saab, "First Gripen E produced in Brazil makes maiden flight": the official account of the flight and of the 15-aircraft Brazilian line.
Brazilian Ministry of Defense, reply to information request 1242/2026: the Air Force's own statement on design authority and Brazilian suppliers.
Embraer, "Embraer and Saab Sign Agreement for production of additional 20 Gripen in Brazil": the framework for a larger Brazilian line.
Valor International, "Saab weighs using Brazil plant for Colombia Gripen order": the Colombian link and the history of the transfer program.
The Aviationist, "First Brazilian-Built Gripen E Makes Maiden Flight": details of the flight and the aircraft.
Sources & Methodology
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R. Planche · DefenseHub
What makes the Gripen programme particularly interesting is that it goes beyond acquiring a modern fighter. It highlights how technology transfer and industrial cooperation can help a country build its own defence capabilities and reduce long-term dependence on foreign suppliers. In modern defence strategy, the ability to sustain and develop military technology can be just as important as the ability to purchase it. Brazil’s experience offers an interesting case study in this regard.