Air Force divests its few A-29s, explores ‘future options’

PARIS — The US Air Force is no longer planning to use three A-29 Super Tucanos for flight testing, opting instead to divest the service’s only examples of the Embraer-made turboprops.

“The A-29 Super Tucano was thoroughly evaluated but did not meet the intended use for Air Force Test Pilot School,” a spokesperson for Edwards Air Force Base said in a statement to Breaking Defense. 

Those aircraft have now been “divested,” the spokesperson said, adding that officials “are exploring future options for a sustainable spin and mission systems aircraft” for the test pilot school. Aviation Week previously reported the Air Force’s decision to retire the aircraft. 

The three A-29s were originally bought by Air Force Special Operations Command, but the command off-loaded the aircraft “after mission requirements changed,” the Air Force said in a 2024 release. The test pilot school at Edwards then picked up the turboprop trio to see if it could fill various test school needs. 

Brazilian aerospace company Embraer manufactures the A-29 and assembles the aircraft at an assembly line in Jacksonville, Fla., where US firm SNC subsequently installs mission equipment for the US and specific foreign military sales customers. Embraer officials have said the Jacksonville line could be at risk if sufficient demand does not materialize, though the company also runs a separate Super Tucano production facility in Brazil. 

The fate of Edwards’ A-29 fleet was previously revealed in a notice posted by the Air Force Oct. 29, which said the service plans to sole-source a contract with SNC to safely store the aircraft. 

“These aircraft are not expected to return to flight for use by the Air Force,” the notice says. The contract to store them would come with a single base year and options for an additional two years of work. 

SNC and Embraer did not respond to a request for comment by press time. 

The US Air Force itself never bought the A-29 in significant numbers, but the service did acquire the aircraft for allies like the Afghan armed forces prior to the Taliban takeover. In recent years, the growing threat of unmanned systems has prompted Embraer and SNC to pitch the Super Tucano as a more affordable drone killer.