Who ordered the AMX?

In early 1977 the Italian Air Force issued the requirement that would give rise to the AMX: 187 newly built attack fighters. The request was not abstract, because the aircraft being sought already had a recipient within the Italian fleet itself, the Aeritalia G.91s it was meant to replace. The initial order was therefore entirely Italian in both client and purpose: to replace an attack type the Italian air force had in service, with a specific number of new aircraft already fixed from the outset.

The program stopped being national three years later. In 1980 the Brazilian government announced its intention to join it, and it did so with a need different from Italy's: Brazil was looking for a replacement for the Aermacchi MB-326. Two air forces with different fleets and problems thus came to share the same development, which required their specifications to be reconciled. That step was completed in July 1981, when the Italian and Brazilian governments agreed on joint requirements for the aircraft. In the same stage, Embraer was invited to join the program's industrial partnership, so Brazil's involvement was not limited to the client side but extended to manufacturing as well.

The formula chosen to carry the project forward was an Italian-Brazilian joint venture, AMX International, set up expressly for the program. Its responsibilities included developing the aircraft, manufacturing it, and marketing it — that is, all three phases of the industrial cycle remained within the same binational structure born from the 1981 agreement.