The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) was founded in January 20 1941, in the middle of the Second World War. Equipped with American airplanes, mainly the P-47 Thunderbolt, the FAB fought on the Italian Front of that war, earning respect for Its high rate of sorties and hard work between the pilots and support personel.
After the war, the FAB begin operating the British jet Fighter Gloster Meteor. The Jet was bought from the British with 15,000 ton of Crude Cotton, because The Brazilian Republic had no foreign currency reserves to spare. The Jet was operated in the FAB until the '70ies, when it was replaced by the Northrop F-5 Tiger. The FAB also had in its squads the F-80 Shooting Star, which was replaced by the F-5 and Mirage III jets.
When the Cold War broke out, The Brazilian Republic was an ally of the USA and other NATO nations. This allowed the F-5 to be bought cheaply from the United States, who practically sponsored this jet as the Freedom Fighter. Many other countries, such as Mexico, profited from this policy.
The now successful EMBRAER (Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica, Brazilian Aeronautic Co.) has its origins as an enterprise directly managed and sponsored by FAB. Working along with Italian Corporations, it developed the new AMX fighter which makes up the backbone of the FAB. The successful Tucano T-27 trainer and the new light attack aircraft "ALX-29" (mainly based on the T-27 turboprop, but with a more powerful engine and fourth generation avionics and precision weaponry) are also developments from Embraer.
Nowadays the FAB is looking for a new Jet Fighter to replace its aging Mirage III. The current competitors are the Lockheed F-16, the Dassault-Embraer Mirage 2000-BR, the SAAB-BAE Gripen, and the Sukhoi Su-35. The project, called F-X project, is about to be defined at any moment. The mainstream media appoint think the Dassault-Embraer consortium will be declared winner. However the Sukhoi Su-35 has strong support from the FAB Pilots and the competition is on until President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva declares the result.
One of the most recent Operations of the FAB was the bombing of illegal landing Sites in the Amazon Forest, used by drug dealers to transport drugs into and out of Brazil. The operation also had support from the EB (Brazilian Army) and the PF (Federal Police) with many drug dealers being arrested as a result. The AMX Bomber/Fighter was used on this operation. The FAB is currently working in the United Nations Mission for Haiti (MINUSTAH) supporting the United Nations army (a Joint Brazilian, Uruguaian and Argentinian army) currently deployed on the Island.
