At 10:21 on Tuesday morning, according to Air Data News, a single-engine fighter with the number 4109 on its tail rolled down the runway at Gavião Peixoto, in the interior of São Paulo state, and climbed away. On the face of it, it was a routine first flight. It was also the first time a Gripen built anywhere other than Sweden has taken to the air.

Embraer and Saab announced the milestone on 7 October 2026. Brazilian outlets Tecnodefesa and Air Data News report that the flight took place on 6 October, with Saab chief test pilot Jakob Högberg at the controls. The jet was assembled on Embraer's Gripen line, the only final assembly line for the type outside Sweden, and it is the first of 15 Brazilian-built aircraft in the country's current order.

A First Flight That Is Really an Exam

This was not a show flight. According to Embraer, the sortie checked the jet's main systems and validated its flight characteristics, and Saab treats it as the opening step of the production acceptance campaign. Before the wheels left the ground, 4109 had already been through inspections, ground runs and system evaluations. More test flights follow before the aircraft is handed to the Brazilian Air Force.

The data from those flights matters as much as the aircraft itself. Every Gripen E that Brazil has received so far was built by Saab in Linköping. Now the question is whether a jet from a Brazilian line flies exactly like one from the Swedish line. The acceptance campaign that started with this flight is there to answer exactly that.

The photos Embraer released show 4109 in the standard grey scheme of the Brazilian Air Force, the serial painted large on the fin and the service name stencilled under the cockpit. It is a clean jet, with no external stores, as you would expect for a first acceptance sortie.

From Rollout in March to Flight in October

The same aircraft was unveiled on 25 March 2026, when Embraer presented the first Gripen it had assembled itself. Six and a half months later, it has flown. The line at Gavião Peixoto was inaugurated in May 2023, and it is part of a wider effort: Saab has also set up a Gripen design and development network and a Gripen flight test centre in Brazil.

The industrial deal has always been the heart of Brazil's fighter choice. When Brasília picked the Saab JAS 39 Gripen over its rivals in the F-X2 competition, technology transfer was a central part of the offer. The 2014 contract covers 36 aircraft, 28 single-seat Gripen E and 8 two-seat Gripen F, and 15 of them are to be built in Brazil. The rest come from Sweden.

Bosco da Costa Junior, who runs Embraer's defence business, called the flight "a historic milestone", and it is easy to see why. Brazil now has a production line for a modern supersonic fighter on its own soil.

Where 4109 Goes Next

Once the acceptance campaign is finished, the jet will join the 1st Air Defence Group, the Jaguar Squadron, at Anápolis Air Force Base near Brasília. Embraer says ten Gripens have already been delivered to the Brazilian Air Force, so 4109 will be the eleventh to enter service.

The Swedish side of the programme is moving too. The first two-seat Gripen F for Brazil flew in Sweden in late August, and a heads of agreement signed on 21 July covers 20 more aircraft, subject to negotiation. Saab's Marcus Wandt put it plainly when he said the maiden flight shows Brazilian Gripen production "has reached a new level of maturity".

For Saab, a second production line on another continent is insurance and opportunity at the same time. For Brazil, it is the difference between buying a fighter and building one. And for the pilots of the Jaguar Squadron, it means that some of their jets will now come from a factory in their own country.

The Record News report below shows the jet on the runway and in the air at Gavião Peixoto.

Sources: Embraer, Saab, Tecnodefesa, Air Data News, MILMAG