Rivals in the same cockpit

In 1977 the Italian Air Force asked for 187 new strike fighters to replace its ageing Fiat G.91s in close air support and its RF-104G Starfighters in reconnaissance. Aeritalia and Aermacchi had each been sketching such an aircraft for years; Aermacchi had its MB-340 study, Aeritalia its Model 3-20. Instead of fighting over the order, the two rivals agreed in April 1978 to build one aircraft together. In October that year the air force chose the Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan, older and heavier than some alternatives but reliable, cheap and, crucially, free of the export restrictions that would come with an American engine.

Brazil joins, the work is divided

Brazil announced in 1980 that it wanted in, to replace the Aermacchi MB-326s flown by its own air force. In July 1981 the two governments agreed joint requirements, Embraer joined, and AMX International was formed to develop, build and sell the aircraft. The work split was strict: Aeritalia made 46.5 per cent of each airframe, including the centre fuselage and tail surfaces; Aermacchi 22.8 per cent, the front fuselage and tail cone; Embraer 29.7 per cent, the wings, intakes, pylons and drop tanks. No component was built in two places. Planned orders were 187 aircraft for Italy and 100 for Brazil.

A bad start

Seven flying prototypes were built, three by Aeritalia, two by Aermacchi and two by Embraer. The first, assembled in Italy, flew on 15 May 1984, and was lost on only its fifth flight, killing its pilot. Testing went smoothly after that; the first Brazilian-assembled prototype flew on 16 October 1985, the first production aircraft on 11 May 1988, and deliveries to Italy began that year, to Brazil in 1989. Engine trouble came later: both fleets were grounded from February to May 1992 after an Italian AMX crashed with an engine failure, and again from January to March 1996.

Two air forces, two different jets

The two air forces ended up with quite different aircraft. Italy’s AMXs, named Ghibli after the hot desert wind of Libya, carried NATO avionics, an in-flight refuelling probe and an M61 Vulcan cannon. The United States refused to sell the M61 to Brazil, so Brazilian A-1s carried two 30 mm DEFA revolver cannon instead, and often flew with reconnaissance camera pallets. Production ended with the last aircraft assembled in 1999: 136 for Italy and 94 for Brazil, 230 in all, well short of the 287 planned. A Venezuelan order for eight AMX-ATA two-seaters in 1999 was killed when the US Congress vetoed the sale over American components.

Thirty-five years of war work

The AMX was deliberately subsonic and unglamorous, and it spent three decades at war. Italian AMXs flew over Bosnia from 1995, dropped Israeli-guided Mk 82 bombs over Kosovo in 1999, and from November 2009 flew reconnaissance in Afghanistan, logging more than 700 combat missions by the end of 2010. In 2011 they bombed targets in Libya with Paveway and JDAM weapons. Embraer upgraded 53 Brazilian aircraft to A-1M standard from 2007. Italy held its retirement ceremony at Istrana on 5 April 2024; Brazil, with 24 left that year, planned to replace its fleet with the Gripen.

Factories

• Aeritalia (Alenia) · Italy — Centre fuselage, stabilisers and rudders
• Aermacchi · Italy — Front fuselage and tail cone
• Embraer · São José dos Campos, Brazil — Wings, air intakes, pylons and drop tanks