A-29 Super Tucano
ICAO E314A turboprop attack aircraft that has quietly become one of the most exported combat types of the century. Live A-29 positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No A-29 Super Tucano is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- Embraer
- Role
- Light attack and counter-insurgency
- Class
- L1T — Landplane, 1 turboprop engine
- Crew
- 1 or 2
- First flight
- 2 June 1999
- In service
- 2003
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the A-29 Super Tucano
The Super Tucano answers a question a lot of air forces have: what do you fly when the threat has no air defences and a fast jet costs a fortune per hour? A rugged armoured turboprop that can loiter for hours, carry precision weapons and operate from a dirt strip turns out to be the better answer, and around twenty countries have bought one.
Brazil developed it from the EMB-312 Tucano trainer, and it is a substantially larger and more powerful aircraft than that name suggests — armoured cockpit, ejection seats, wing guns and five hardpoints.
Afghanistan, Nigeria, the Philippines, Colombia, Indonesia, Lebanon and the United States all operate it, the latter for training partner air forces. It appears on this feed most often as a Brazilian aircraft.
Callsign prefixes
- BRS
- Brazilian Air Force
- FAC
- Colombian Air Force
How to recognise it
- —A single turboprop with tandem seats, a five-blade propeller and a bulged, armoured canopy.
- —Underwing hardpoints and often visible wing gun ports.
- —Larger and heavier-looking than the Tucano trainer it descends from.
Common questions
+ Is the A-29 the same as the Tucano?
It is developed from the EMB-312 Tucano but is a much larger and more powerful aircraft, with an armoured cockpit, ejection seats, weapons and a considerably bigger engine. They are separate types on this site.
+ Why would an air force buy a propeller attack aircraft?
Cost and endurance. Against opponents without air defences, a turboprop that loiters for hours and costs a fraction of a jet per flight hour does the job better, and it can work from rough strips close to where it is needed.
+ Does the United States operate it?
Yes, in small numbers, chiefly to train partner air forces that fly the type. It has also been evaluated for light attack roles.