In mid 1996 the Brazilian Navy got the green light after a study for the possibility of acquisition of fixed-wing Aircraft with the main mission to provide aerial ways of interception and attack.

The reason for this decision was to increase the operative capacity of the Brazilian Naval Forces and the Aircraft’s also have to be compatible to start and land from the Brazilian Aircraft carrier the NAel Minas Gerais (A11) later replaced by the Aircraft Carrier the Sao Paulo(A12).

At this moment the Brazilian Navy only operated various helicopters for different tasks.

At the 30th of April 1998 the Brazilian Navy negotiated A contract with the government of Kuwait to purchase twenty-three A-4KU and TA-4KU Skyhawk aircraft to Add to the Inventory of the Marinha do Brasil. At this time the Government of Kuwait already replaced their A-4 Skyhawks for the FA-18C & D Hornet aircraft. The Skyhawk were in excellent condition with a very small hours of Flight, in a average of 1.500 hours, when for example the normal structual limit of the wings is 7.000 hours

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The Engines that had come with the aircraft’s had only an average of 300 hours of operation. Twenty A-4KU Single-seat and Three
TA-4KU two-seat versions were purchased, these are modified A-4M and TA-4J versions of the A-4 Skyhawk manufactured by the American company Mc Donnel Douglas and are named in the Brazilian Navy as the AF-1 for the single-seat versions and AF-1A for the two-seat versions. Also included in the package were 217 “Sidewinder” missiles which are stored in the Centre of Missiles and Submarine weapons of the Navy in Rio de Janeiro.

The twenty-three AF-1 Skyhawks arrived in Brazil at the 7th of September of 1998 in the Port of “Porto do Forno” in the Region of Cabo, Rio de Janeiro.

At the 2nd of October 1998, the day of the 82nd Anniversary of Brazilian Naval Aviation the Skyhawks were officially added to the inventory of the Brazilian Navy and the new first squadron of interception and attack VF-1 “Falcões” Portugese for Hawks was born.


The first solo flight In a Brazilian AF-1 took place at the Naval base of Sao Pedro D’Aldeia on May 26th of 2000 and was piloted by Aviator Lieutenant Jose Vicente de Alvarenga. In this flight Lieutenant Alvarenga was the first Fixed-wing aviator in the Brazilian Navy since 1965.

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The training of the pilots of the Brazilian AF-1 Skyhawk took place in different locations including Argentina in Argentine Skyhawks and in the TA-4J of the Training squadron of VT-7 at the United states Naval Air Station Meridian, Mississippi in The United States. And also the pilots got trained with the support of the Brazilian Air Force.

The AF-1 that are operated by the Brazilian Navy are the most recent of all series of the Skyhawks. The Skyhawk is an aircraft in a high performance tactical multiroll, the Aircraft has a simple and resistant construction, It has the capacity to fullfill to multiple missions , Low maintanance and both models the AF-1 single-seat and the AF-1A two-seat version are equally equipped and have similar performance. The AF-1 is the perfect Aircraft for the Brazilian Navy.

With a great team of people and a lot of teamwork the Squadron of VF-1 “Falcões” is the aerial arm of the Marinha do Brasil in the 21th Century.


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