U.S.–Brazil Upgrade A-29 Super Tucano Light-Attack with AI to Hunt and Destroy Swarming Drones.

Embraer and Valkyrie Aero are integrating the Gunslinger artificial intelligence system into the A-29 Super Tucano to detect, track, and destroy hostile drones using guns and guided rockets. The upgrade reflects growing U.S. and allied demand for affordable counter-UAS solutions that can intercept large numbers of low-cost drones without relying on expensive fighters or missiles.

Embraer and Valkyrie Aero are integrating Valkyrie’s Gunslinger AI into the A-29 Super Tucano to sharpen the aircraft into a manned counter-UAS interceptor able to find, track, and destroy low-cost drones with proportionate weapons instead of burning scarce fighter and missile capacity. The companies say the AI layer is intended to accelerate tactical decision-making across the “find, fix, finish” kill chain while exploiting the Super Tucano’s ability to safely match the speed of one-way attack drones and deliver precise engagements with guns, guided rockets, and other effectors.
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Embraer and Valkyrie Aero are upgrading the A-29 Super Tucano with Gunslinger AI to accelerate detection, tracking, and engagement of hostile drones, combining EO/IR sensors, datalinks, and low-cost effectors like guns and guided 70 mm rockets to deliver a sustainable, expeditionary counter-UAS “drone hunter” capability (Picture source: Embraer).

Drones have shifted from niche enablers to a persistent, massed threat that shapes daily operations, from frontline reconnaissance and artillery spotting to one-way attack strikes against logistics nodes, air bases, and critical infrastructure. Western militaries watching Ukraine have drawn a blunt lesson: countering UAS is now a readiness requirement, not a boutique capability, and it must be delivered at sustainable cost. A key driver is economic asymmetry, where expensive interceptors and high-end sorties are repeatedly spent against targets that can be built and launched cheaply and in volume.

That cost-pressure has pushed forces to improvise: fighter aircraft have been tasked to chase small drones, but fast jets are optimized for very different target sets and can struggle to prosecute slow, low-signature objects efficiently. Open reporting has highlighted the price gap between “magazine depth” weapons such as laser-guided 70 mm rockets and the far more expensive short- and medium-range air-to-air missiles often carried by fighters, reinforcing why militaries want lower-cost engagement options that still offer reach and mobility.

The A-29’s appeal in this role is rooted in physics and cockpit workload, not branding. The aircraft’s very low stall speed, around 43 kt, allows it to pace and maneuver with slow targets that would sit awkwardly inside a fighter’s performance envelope. Its tandem cockpit supports a division of labor between pilot and mission operator during complex visual identification and weapons employment, and the platform can operate from austere locations, enabling forward basing closer to the defended asset or ground force.

Embraer’s own systems architecture shows how the Super Tucano can be configured as a drone hunter without a clean-sheet redesign. The aircraft’s sensor suite can include an electro-optical/infrared package integrated with the weapons system, designed for day-night operations and compatible with night vision goggles, and the company describes an embedded laser designator for target designation and precise attack. A tactical data link is also part of the baseline systems set, supporting encrypted air-to-air and air-to-ground communications, a prerequisite for cueing from ground radars or distributed sensors.

On the “finish” side, Embraer’s brochure underscores that the A-29’s store management system controls five NATO-standard external stations plus two internal .50 caliber machine guns. External stores options include 7- and 19-shot 70 mm rocket launchers and explicitly reference conventional and laser-guided rockets, including APKWS, alongside a range of bombs for its traditional light-attack mission. For counter-UAS, that rocket-and-gun mix matters: the aircraft can carry multiple rocket pods to build a deep magazine for repeated shots, while the internal guns provide an immediate, low-cost option when geometry, rules of engagement, and proximity to friendly forces demand tight control.

Gunslinger is designed to raise the probability of successful engagements by compressing the detect-to-shoot timeline. Embraer describes it as an AI suite enabling real-time tactical decision-making that supports “find, fix, finish” against unmanned threats and enhances the A-29’s existing counter-UAS concept that relies on integrated sensors. While the partners have not publicly detailed algorithms or sensor inputs, the operational intent is clear: reduce the crew’s cognitive burden when multiple tracks appear, help prioritize threats, and deliver faster cues for weapon selection and firing solutions, particularly in the cluttered low-altitude environment where small drones exploit background terrain.

Programmatically, Embraer has been building toward this point for months. Embraer finalized ground and flight tests validating EO/IR air-to-air concept-of-operations and is implementing mission-system software upgrades to improve air-to-air effectiveness, with demonstrations and availability targeted for the second half of 2026. The same reporting notes Embraer’s view that many UAS targets fly near 100 kt, turning “slower than a fighter” from a liability into an engagement advantage when the task is to track, designate, and prosecute a small object without overshooting the fight.

For Embraer, the business logic is to keep the A-29 relevant as air forces shift spending toward air defense, base protection, and expeditionary resilience. The Super Tucano already has a broad installed base, with Embraer citing more than 290 aircraft contracted, over 580,000 flight hours, and roughly 60,000 operational hours. That footprint creates a ready market for upgrade kits that can be rolled into training pipelines and sustainment contracts, including through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales ecosystem supported by Embraer’s Jacksonville assembly and support enterprise.

Valkyrie Aero’s incentive is equally direct: productize an AI-enabled C-UAS workflow around a platform it already knows intimately. Embraer describes Valkyrie as a DoD prime contractor with substantial Tucano availability and unique U.S. military flight release credentials for night sensor and weapons release with NVGs, alongside contracted close air support and pilot training experience with U.S. and allied forces. In practice, that combination positions Valkyrie to bridge operational lessons from training ranges and real-world threat reporting into rapid software updates, a critical attribute when the drone threat evolves faster than conventional acquisition cycles.

An AI-assisted, rocket-armed turboprop does not replace ground-based short-range air defense, electronic warfare, or layered base-defense systems, but it can add a mobile “outer ring” where geography and rules of engagement permit. Cued by networked sensors, an A-29 orbit can investigate ambiguous tracks, visually confirm hostile intent, and prosecute beyond the line-of-sight of point defenses, potentially thinning raids before they reach defended airfields or maneuver brigades. That ability to push counter-UAS forward matters now because drones are no longer episodic; they are persistent, scalable, and increasingly integrated into adversary strike doctrines, forcing militaries to build sustainable defeat capacity rather than rely on exquisite interceptors for every contact.