The company said in a statement its new Embraer defense and Security unit will be headed by Chief Financial Officer Luiz Carlos Aguiar.
“The defense and security unit will expand the company’s market beyond airspace and allow it to boost growth through increased exports,” chief executive officer Frederico Fleury Curado said.
“We’re talking about applications for the army, for the navy, and for security forces like the police,” Curado said from São Paulo.
Embraer’s new business will surpass 1.5 billion reais (US$ 879 million) in sales next year, the company said in a statement. In 2009, Embraer had 949 million reais (US$ 556 million) in sales from its defense division.
The world’s fourth-largest aircraft-maker produces the light attack aircraft known as Super-Tucano and is developing a military transport, dubbed KC-390, that should have its first flight in 2014.
Embraer also manufactures jets for government personnel transport and for surveillance, mostly based on its commercial jet platforms.
Embraer is the only Brazilian company able to “put itself in the center of the chain” of the defense and security market, Curado said. “Occupying such a role would inevitably amplify our ability to export.”