The Brazilian Air Force successfully launched the first missile from its new Swedish Saab Gripen fighter. The European Meteor model, whose cost is estimated at R$ 12.4 million, was launched on Thursday (27) on a drone near the coast of Rio Grande do Norte.
Now, the FAF will conduct a similar test with the German 27mm Gripen gun undergoing testing at sea near Rio. With this and the completion of the in-flight refueling test campaign using the force’s Embraer KC-390 aircraft at the beginning of this month, the aircraft will be certified for real combat in 2026.
The launch was the highlight of Exercise BVR-X, which began on the 17th in Natal. The test takes its abbreviation from the meteorite property: beyond the visual field, in English, while the X indicates experimental. Previously, the missile was tested only with Gripen in Sweden.
The pilot fires at a distance that can range from 100 kilometers to 200 kilometers from his target, and may or may not update his course via digital communication along the way, leaving little reaction time for the adversary.
In this case, a drone from the Italian company Leonardo, the Mirach 100/5, was used, which simulates maneuvers like a small subsonic fighter. No operational details of the test, such as the distance between the fighter and the target, were revealed.
“The launch was the ideal scenario to verify and test how efficient the Gripen and Meteor are in modern air warfare and against any type of vector,” Natal Air Base Commander, Brigadier General Breno Diogenes Gonsalves, told FAB.
The Meteor is the most advanced model of its kind on the market, and a newer generation than its kind in Latin America, the American AIM-120C, used by Chile, and the Russian R-77, operated by Peru and Venezuela. Brazil had nothing like it.
The Gripen can carry up to seven of these missiles, which use a propellant stage followed by the use of a turbojet, air-fed engine at the front to generate speeds of up to four times the speed of sound (4,900 km/h).
According to the annual schedule of arms transfers from Sipri (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), the value of the purchase from FAB amounted to 200 million euros (about 1.2 billion Brazilian reais today) for a total of one hundred units. This is in line with the market price of Meteor, which could reach €2.4 million per piece (R$14.9 million).
Power does not reveal costs or quantities. The purchase of the weapon is part of the overall Gripen package, which already includes 11 of the 36 aircraft ordered in 2014 in Brazil. There is an annual disbursement of $1 billion for the program, which has been funded by the Swedish government over 25 years, but it is behind schedule.
According to the initial schedule, all the fighters were supposed to be delivered last year, including the 15 fighters scheduled for production on Embraer’s production line at Gavião Peixoto (SP). Current expectations are for final delivery to take place in 2032, and the first Brazilian-made fighter should be delivered by the end of the year.
With this, FAB is negotiating the possibility of purchasing a batch of up to 12 previous generation Gripen aircraft, C/D, operating in Sweden. The idea is to fill the gap in the fleet, especially due to the end of the life of the AMX ground attack aircraft, based at Santa Maria (RS), which is supposed to happen soon.
The problem is that Gripen is in high demand, as Ukraine wants war. Moreover, Stockholm does not want to strip its airspace excessively during times of high tension with Russia under Vladimir Putin.
The model purchased by Brazil, the Generation E (single pilot)/F (two passengers), has also been ordered by Sweden, Thailand and Colombia – whose aircraft will be produced on the Brazilian route, which is jointly operated by Saab and Embraer. Peru will also be able to choose the aircraft, but the country’s ongoing political crisis is delaying the decision.
The FAF has not said whether it will test the other missile operated by Brazilian company Gripen, the German-Italian Iris-T. It is a modern short-range model, with a range of about 25 km, that is guided by an infrared sensor that looks for the thermal signature of the target, such as gases emitted by its engine.
There are no details on how many pieces were purchased and at what price, but their shelf value is estimated at €380,000 (R$2.3 million) per unit.