Sierra Nevada Corporation and Embraer Defense and Security delivered the first United States-built A-29 Super Tucano light air support aircraft to the US Air Force during a ceremony Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla., according to a company release. It is the first of 20 such aircraft that will eventually call Moody AFB, Ga., home. The base was named the US training location for the Afghan air force’s A-29 pilots and maintainers in late August. “The Super Tucano is a robust and powerful turboprop aircraft capable of carrying out a wide range of missions,” said Jackson Schneider, Embraer Defense and Security CEO and president. Jackson noted that over 10-plus years of operations the A-29 has proven “to be a cost-effective airpower solution for nations around the world.”
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
