First Brazilian-built Gripen E completes maiden flight

Brazil's first domestically assembled Gripen E took off from Embraer's Gavião Peixoto facility in São Paulo state on October 6, 2026. The Brazilian Air Force designates the aircraft the F-39E. It is the first of 15 Gripen Es to be built at the site, and the first Gripen produced outside Sweden.

Tail number 4109 was presented at a ceremony on March 25 attended by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Saab chief test pilot Jakob Högberg flew the sortie, which began at 10:21 am local time. According to Saab, the flight checked the aircraft's basic system functions and assessed its initial performance. Embraer announced the milestone on social media the next day, October 7.

The flight follows the maiden sortie of the first Gripen F, the twin-seat variant, on August 28, 2026. Högberg flew that aircraft with Brazilian Air Force test pilot Lt. Col. Abdon de Rezende Vasconcelos. Brazil is the launch customer for the two-seat version.

Brazil's 2014 order, valued at $4.5 billion, covers 36 aircraft: 28 single-seat F-39Es and eight twin-seat F-39Fs. Fifteen of the jets are to be manufactured at Gavião Peixoto.

Other milestones linked to the Brazilian programme include the first live firing of the Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile from a Brazilian Gripen on Brazilian soil, and clearance for the fighter to refuel from the Embraer KC-390 Millennium.