LE BOURGET, France - Embraer's ERJ-145 aircraft can provide cash-strapped countries a cheaper way for their militaries to acquire airborne intelligence, a company official says. Anastacio Katsanos, Brazil-based Embraer's defense programs chief, said the reconnaissance-based ERJ-145 can achieve multiforce integration and faster command cycles, allowing the greater mobility and flexibilty that armed services want, according to Aviation Week's ShowNews.

New economic optimism from western investors is being matched by an explosion in business aviation activity across Eastern Europe, through Moscow and beyond. The farther east you go the busier it gets. It's ``gold rush time'' say some, but it is the infrastructure problems in these countries that have caused many people and companies to use the classic tool of business aviation for the first time. ``It's the only way to cover the area in a short space of time,'' say many investors.

Despite a 14-month delay in FAA/EASA certification of the Embraer 170 and the reorganized introduction of this next generation of regional jets, the recent rollout of the Embraer 190 (the longer fuselage version of the 170) and its healthy order book has brought broad Brazilian smiles to the faces of anxious company executives. In the corporate jet arena, Embraer is determined to increase the ``nationalization'' or Brazilian content of its Legacy corporate jets, with company technicians fitting more of the $2 million interiors in Brazil.