During the mid-1980s, Embraer was working on the Short Tucano alongside a new version designed EMB-312G1, carrying the same Garrett engine. The EMB-312G1 prototype flew for the first time in July 1986. However, the project was dropped because the Brazilian Air Force was not interested in it. Nonetheless, the lessons from recent combat use of the aircraft in Peru and Venezuela led Embraer to keep up the studies. Besides a trainer, it researched a helicopter attack version designated “helicopter killer” or EMB-312H. The study was stimulated by the unsuccessful bid for the US military Joint Primary Aircraft Training System program. A proof-of-concept prototype flew for the first time in September 1991. The aircraft features a 1.37-m (4.49-ft) fuselage extension with the addition of sections before and after of the cockpit to restore its center of gravity and stability, a strengthened airframe, cockpit pressurization, and stretched nose to house the more powerful PT6A-67R (1,424 shp) engine. Two new prototypes with the PT6A-68A (1,250 shp) engine were built in 1993. The second prototype flew for the first time in May 1993 and the third prototype flew in October 1993.
The request for a light attack aircraft was part of the Brazilian government’s Amazon Surveillance System project. This aircraft would fly with the R-99A and R-99B aircraft then in service and be used to intercept illegal aircraft flights and patrol Brazil’s borders. The ALX project was then created by the Brazilian Air Force, which was also in need of a military trainer to replace the Embraer EMB 326GB Xavante. The new aircraft was to be suited to the Amazon region (high temperature, moisture, and precipitation; low threat). The ALX was then specified as a turboprop engine aircraft with a long range and autonomy, able to operate night and day, in any meteorological conditions, and able to land on short airfields lacking infrastructure.

The Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano, also named ALX or A-29, turboprop light attack aircraft is designed to operate in high temperature and humidity conditions in extremely rugged terrain, the Super Tucano is highly maneuverable, has a low heat signature, and incorporates fourth-generation avionics and weapons systems to deliver precision-guided munitions.

In August 1995, the Brazilian Ministry of Aeronautics awarded Embraer a $50 million contract for ALX development. Two EMB-312Hs were updated to serve as ALX prototypes. These made their initial flights in their new configuration in 1996 and 1997, respectively. The initial flight of a production-configured ALX, further modified from one of the prototypes, occurred on 2 June 1999 (PT-ZTW).

The second prototype was brought up to two-seater configuration and performed its first flight on 22 October 1999. The changes had been so considerable that the type was given a new designation, the EMB-314 Super Tucano. The total cost of the aircraft development was quoted to be between US$200 million and US$300 million.

EMB-312H Prototype PT-ZTW first flew on 9 September 1991, and currently is on display at the Memorial Aeroespacial Brasileiro in São José dos Campos.

Variants:

A-29A

Single-seater for attack and armed reconnaissance (on interdiction tasks), attack and cover (on close air support tasks), able to intercept and destroy low-performance aircraft, incorporates an additional fuel tank (+ 400 liters)

A-29B
Twin-seater for the same tasks as the single-seat version, also used in training and advanced aerial control (on monitoring tasks)

Operators:

Afghan Air Force – 20 aircraft ordered. The first aircraft were delivered in 2016 and the last were to be in service by late 2018. The first A-29 Super Tucano of the Pentagon’s Light Air Support (LAS) program, destined for the Afghan Air Force, delivered to the US Air Force in Jacksonville, Florida, by the Sierra Nevada Corporation and Embraer in September 2014. The first eight Afghan airmen are trained in the US to form a new Afghan fighter squadron. The first four aircraft arrived in-country at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on the 15 January 2016. Four more were delivered in July 2016, and an additional four arrived in March 2017, bringing the total of delivered Super Tucanos to 12.

National Air Force of Angola – six aircraft ordered. Deliveries were scheduled to begin in early 2012; but the first three delivered on 31 January 2013.

Brazilian Air Force – 99 aircraft (33 A-29A & 66 A-29B). At least 4 aircraft lost.

Air Force of Burkina Faso – 3 aircraft delivered in September 2011 of version A-29B.

Chilean Air Force – 12 aircraft.

Colombian Air Force – 25 aircraft, introduced between 2006 and 2008.
At least one aircraft crashed, claimed shot down by FARC.

Dominican Air Force – 8 aircraft

Ecuadorian Air Force – 18 aircraft, all delivered by 2011.

Ghana Air Force – 5 aircraft ordered in 2015.

Honduran Air Force – 2 aircraft ordered in 2014.

Indonesian Air Force – 16 aircraft ordered & delivered, one lost in a crash February 2016. The first four aircraft of the first batch of eight were delivered as of August 2012, the delivery of the second batch of four aircraft was delayed till September 2014. A total of 16 were ordered in 2011 with deliveries taking place in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Lebanese Air Force – 2 A-29s delivered in October 2017, 4 more to be delivered in 2018.

Mali Air Force – 6 A-29 on order.

Mauritanian Air Force – 4 aircraft ordered, received two aircraft as of December 2012, two more aircraft on order.

Nigerian Air Force – 12 aircraft on order

Senegalese Air Force – 3 aircraft on order.

EP Aviation – part of Academi (formerly Blackwater) – at least one twin-seater variant for pilot training (delivered in February 2008).

United States Navy leased an aircraft for testing, as part of the Imminent Fury program.

The first A-29 Super Tucano of the Pentagon’s Light Air Support (LAS) program, destined for the Afghan Air Force, has been delivered to the US Air Force in Jacksonville, Florida by the Sierra Nevada Corporation and Embraer in September 2014. The LAS contract was developed by the Pentagon to supply Afghanistan’s military with 20 planes, which should ensure air superiority in the country after the majority of US forces leave. Because the contract is a foreign military sale, Nevada-based SNC and Brazil-based Embraer deliver the planes to the Air Force, which then passes them on to the Afghan military. The first of 20 A-29 Super Tucano aircraft arrived at Moody Air Force Base on September 26, 2014 in preparation for the Afghanistan pilot and maintenance training mission.

EMB 314 Super Tucano
Engine: 1 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68C turboprop, 1,196 kW (1,600 shp)
Propeller: Hartzell 5-blade constant speed, fully feathering, reversible-pitch propeller
Wingspan: 11.14 m (36 ft 6.5 in)
Wing area: 19.4 sq.m (208.8 sq ft)
Length: 11.38 m (37 ft 4 in)
Height: 3.97 m (13 ft 0.25 in)
Empty weight: 3,200 kg (7,055 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 5,400 kg (11,905 lb)
Payload: 1,500 kg (3,307 lb)
Maximum speed: 590 km/h (319 knots, 367 mph)
Cruise speed: 520 km/h (281 knots, 323 mph)
Stall speed: 148 km/h (80 knots, 92 mph)
Service ceiling: 10,668 m (35,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 16.4 m/s (3,242 ft/min)
Range: 720 nmi (827 mi, 1,330 km)
Combat radius: 550 km (300 nmi, 342 mi) (hi-lo-hi profile, 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) of external stores)
Ferry range: 1,541 nmi (1,774 mi, 2,855 km)
Endurance: 8hrs 24mins
g-limit: +7/-3.5 g)
Crew: Pilot plus one navigator/student
Armament: 2× 12.7 mm (0.50 in) 1,100 rounds per minute FN Herstal M3P machine guns, one in each wing.
Hardpoints: 5 (two under each wing and one under fuselage centreline) with a capacity of 1,550 kg (3,300 lb)