Airplanes Will Conduct Border Patrol Missions, Combat Drug
Traffic
Embraer delivered the first two Super Tucano aircraft to the
government of the Dominican Republic last week ... the first of 8
aircraft that will eventually enter service there. The delivery
ceremony was attended by the Dominican Secretary of Defense,
Lieutenant General Pedro Rafael Peña Antonio; the Vice
Minister of the Armed Forces, Vice Admiral Nicolás Cabrera
Arias; the Ambassador of the Dominican Republic in Brazil, Hector
Dionisio Perez; Brigadier General and Pilot Ricardo Cabral Vittini;
Minister Alejandro Arias Zarzuela; and Defense Attaché, Air
Force Colonel Manuel Abad Garcia Lithgow.
The airplanes will be operated by the Dominican Air Force on
missions involving internal security, border patrol, and combating
the drug traffic. This contract represents the fourth export of
this successful turboprop, after being sold to the Air Forces of
Colombia (FAC), Chile (FACH), and Ecuador (FAE).
“The use of the Super Tucano airplanes by the Dominican
Air Force, beginning with these first two deliveries, will increase
the readiness and solidity of the nation’s defense system, by
performing patrol missions with the operational efficiency and
precision that are already combat proven,” said Orlando
José Ferreira Neto, Embraer Executive Vice President,
Defense Market. “We are pleased to be able to serve another
prestigious customer, the Dominican Air Force.”
“The acquisition of these Super Tucano aircraft,
manufactured by one of the world’s most prestigious
companies, is one more example of the Government’s
unshakeable decision to deal with the nation’s vulnerable
areas, in order to protect ourselves from the scourge of the drug
traffic,” stated the Secretary of Defense of the Dominican
Republic, Lieutenant General Pedro Rafael Peña Antonio.
“This is also happy day, because it represents the
achievement of a dream. A dream that became a project and soon was
changed into action. It is another example of the genuine and
undeniable concern of the Dominican people to pursue the solutions
needed to make possible a more certain future for all of
us.”
Eighty-three Super Tucanos have been delivered to the Brazilian
Air Force (FAB) and 25 to the FAC, where they are successfully used
for border patrol, combating the drug traffic, and other combat
missions.