Through a partnership established between Brazil and Sweden, Embraer has developed an aircraft with advance warning signals, that very few countries produce.
Talking about the as yet untapped potential in the Amazon region is almost a cliché. This huge territorial expanse of tropical forest covers nine Latin American nations, and has 60% of its area in Brazil. Among so many impressive figures, it is worth mentioning the almost 30,000 species of plants present in the area, including 5,000 different trees. By way of comparison, the whole of North America has only 650 registered species.
What is the importance of this natural wealth? The economic potential that can be generated by this biodiversity is immense. A substantial part of the active ingredients, which generate the pharmacological effects in cosmetics and medicines, whether natural or synthetic, is extracted from animals and plants, and this establishes the Amazon region as one of the most important natural sources for supplies to this kind of industrial activity. Therefore, the Amazon region is a source of income for the different industries in segments such as pharmaceutical products, hygiene, perfumes and cosmetics.
The 15 largest pharmaceutical companies on the planet had a total income of more than US$ 380 billion in 2008 (IMS Health 2008, Top 15 Global corporations – http://www.imshealth.com/deployedfiles/imshealth/Global/Content/StaticFile/Top_Line_Data/Global-Top_15_Companies.pdf). The segment of personal hygiene, perfumes and cosmetics had an ex-factory turnover (leaving the factory, without addition of taxes on sales) of R$ 27.5 billion in nominal terms in 2010, which is a growth of 12.6% when compared to 2009. According to Datamonitor (http://www.datamonitor.com/store/Browse/?Ntt=cosmetics%20industry%20sales), in 2010 the cosmetics industry made more than 170 billion United States Dollars.
However, the Amazon region and all its wealth belongs to the Brazilian people, which means that its exploitation should mean generation of wealth for the local economy, Due to its sheer size, the control of its sustainable exploitation becomes a very complex matter, which means that close and constant monitoring is necessary.
In the 1980s, in a move to protect the Amazon Region, there was the establishment of the Calha Norte Project, with support from the Brazilian Army, Navy and Air Force, seeking to patrol the channels of the Solimões and Amazon rivers. To implement this surveillance, the Amazon Surveillance System (Sistema de Vigilância da Amazônia – SIVAM) programmes were created, in order to operate the System for Protection of the Amazon Region (Sistema de Proteção da Amazônia – SIPAM).
Seeking to increase the patrolling of the airspace of this territorial expanse, with vast areas as yet not covered by radar, and also lending support to SIVAM/SIPAM, there is the need to use a kind of aircraft with advance warning signals (Airborne Warning and Control System – AWACS). This is an aeroplane which has an immense radar unit on its back, these being a replacement for dozens of land radar units, thereby bringing down implementation and maintenance costs, while making the patrol more efficient.
One of the solutions was the development of this kind of aircraft by Embraer, using the same platform as the ERJ-145 regional jet. However, the greatest difficulty would be that of finding a partner who could provide the technology of advance warning systems, without restriction, so that Brazil could then integrate the whole system of communication and data transmission.
Several times, Brazil has been denied the transfer of technology for the development of their arms and civil industries. According to Brigadier Engineer Venâncio Alvarenga Gomes, the development of an anti-radiation missile, known as MAR-1, has been through several embargoes in the sale of supplies by the United States. The MAR-1, developed by the Brazilian Aerospace Science and Technology Department (Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Aeroespacial – DCTA) and Mectron, has come up against great difficulty to purchase aerials and other sensors, and this meant that its development had to be from scratch, leading to a delay of several years in the programme.
Another type of missile for aerial combat, known as the MAA-1, has also suffered with the technology transfer issue. In the beginning, the infrared sensors, whose main purpose is that of detecting an enemy aeroplane, and which are supplied by Judson, an American company, showed themselves to be both short-sighted and cross-eyed, in the opinion of According to Brigadier Engineer Venâncio Alvarenga Gomes, as they would only see two smudges instead of the enemy aeroplane (you may see his statement on video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GURWeWJsyR8).
To avoid these problems, Embraer has sought the support of Swedish company Ericsson to supply the radar that would be loaded on to the ERJ-145. Ericsson supplied the PS-890 Erieye, which is a cutting-edge flat aerial, with active electronic scanning, passing on all the necessary technology to make the project feasible. The Erieye radar is able to detect aircraft of different sizes (this system has already helped with the detection of dozens of small aircraft owned by drug traders, flying over the Amazon Region). Its technology makes it possible to track several targets at the same time, regardless of how high they are flying, something that would be impossible for a land-based radar system. This new aircraft manufactured by Embraer came to be called R-99 Erieye.
Ericsson has not only supplied technology but also transferred it to Brazil, enabling the country to take yet another technological leap forward. This aircraft has already been commercialised without any kind of impediment, as Sweden, thanks to the country’s policy of neutrality, does not enforce any kind of rules for sales by their commercial partners. The R-99 Erieye has been sold to Mexico, Greece and India and has become a great commercial success, bringing revenues to Brazil. The sale of an aeroplane of this size is equivalent to a ship laden with thousands of tonnes of mineral ore.
The fact is that the capacity of producing and selling technology grants more independence to a country, and also greater diversity in its foreign trade and more sustainability in its economy. However, in order to move forward there is a need to innovate, and this is done with a good technological base, something as yet almost non-existent in Brazil.
The choice of commercial partners and types of development, when correct, make it possible for the country to take leaps and bounds in the technology area, advancing the country’s ability to innovate. The R-99 Erieye is an example of this.
Brazil has another opportunity to make a technological leap, or not, with the purchase of fighter aeroplanes for the Brazilian Air Force (FAB). A correct choice shall make it possible for the country to receive not only the aircraft, but also cutting-edge technology which shall allow the country to learn in order to innovate and create new products, whether for the military or civil aviation market, thereby qualifying the country to continue along its path to be a global economic power.
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