Foreign officers had the opportunity to visit the Alcântara Launch Center, the Barreira do Inferno Launch Center and the Natal Air Base
The Attachés Section of the Air Force Staff (EMAER), resuming its activities with the Foreign Attachés, coordinated the institutional visit of a committee, composed of 34 military personnel from friendly nations accredited in Brazil, to the Alcântara Launching Center (CLA), the Barreira do Inferno Launching Center (CLBI) and the Natal Air Base (BANT).
The foreign officials were received by the CLA Director, Colonel Engineer Fernando Benitez Leal, who presented the Center’s capabilities, highlighting its readiness to receive launch vehicles from national and international commercial companies, with great financial advantage, given its privileged geographic position near the Equator.
There, the delegation visited the Mobile Integration Tower, the Control Center and other sites of the Alcântara Space Center (Centro Espacial de Alcântara – CEA), thus getting to know the set of infrastructures and services available at the CEA, focused on space vehicle launch activities.
In the city of Natal (RN), the military got to know the CLBI, an organization of the Aeronautics Command (COMAER) whose main objective is to launch, record and treat flight data from artifacts and space vehicles, and to carry out experiments of interest to the organization. In the occasion, the CLBI Director, Aviator Colonel Erivando Pereira Souza, presented to the attached officers the capabilities and opportunities that the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) Base offers to its partners, agencies and national and international institutions.
“The CLBI currently has a solid partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), contributing with state-of-the-art telemetry equipment for the precise monitoring and tracking of the Ariane launcher, activities that are being developed together with the French Space Center in Kourou, French Guyana,” he added.
The visitors were also able to watch a presentation given by the Commander of Natal Air Base (BANT), Air Brigadier Éric Cézzane Cólen Guedes, who emphasized the historical importance of BANT, as well as the functioning of the units based there, providing important information about the operational training of FAB pilots.
Soon after, the attachés visited the A-29 Super Tucano and H-36 Caracal aircraft, which were on static display, and visited the Simulator Center, where they had the opportunity to experience the simulated flight of the A-29, the C-95 and the virtual reality modules of the A-29, activities that caused positive impressions among the foreign visitors, mainly due to the similarity with real flight.
“These visits programmed by EMAER provide the foreign attachés the possibility to get to know the aerospace capabilities and the operationality of our Air Force, which undoubtedly reflects in a broader vision of the opportunities that our country offers, both in the scientific and military fields”, concluded the Chief of the Attachés Section of EMAER and Coordinator of the visit, Aviator Colonel Márcio Gonçalves Ribeiro.
Photos: Natal Air Base/ BANT *** Translated by the DEFCONPress FYI Team ***