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SAO PAOLO, Brazil – The skies over Sao Paulo state are roaring with low-altitude flights of the Saab-designed Gripen-E military aircraft being built by the Swedish company but completed and serviced at a nearby Embraer plant and Brazil’s National Aircraft Development Center.
The airplanes are part of a $4.5 billion order for 36 aircraft by the Brazilian Air Force, of which 15 will be fully produced by Embraer.
The flights are at times at an altitude of only 15 feet over flat, sparsely in order to minimize the effect of the sonic booms on people on the ground, says Saab, but the company does not report the speeds attained on test flights.
By Milan Sime Martinic