UPDATE 1-Embraer confirms fighter sale to U.S. defence firm

(adds quotes, background)

PARIS, June 6 (Reuters) - Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer (ERJ.N)(EMBR3.SA) confirmed on Friday it had sold a fighter plane to Blackwater Worldwide, the controversial private defence firm that guards U.S. personnel in Iraq. The sale of the Super Tucano was cleared by both the Brazilian and U.S. governments, but the plane will not be used in any combat zones, said Fernando Ikedo, vice-president of market intelligence for defence and government markets.

"We sold a Super Tucano to (Blackwater subsidiary) EP Aviation but for use as training in the U.S. only," he told a news briefing at Embraer's European headquarters.

"There is no link to Iraq," he added.

Blackwater, the world's largest private defence firm formed in 1997 by ex-Navy Seal Erik Prince and Al Clark, guards U.S. government personnel in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

It is under investigation by the FBI over the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in a crowded Baghdad square in September 2007.

Embraer had previously declined to comment on the deal, which was reported on Sunday by Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.

The sleek black and grey 314-B1 Super Tucano fighter, which resembles a World War Two P-51 Mustang, was flown from Embraer headquarters in Sao Jose dos Campos in February to a corporate airport in Virginia, according to the newspaper report.

Ikedo told Reuters that the propeller-driven fighter, used for training and border operations by the Brazilian air force, had been delivered to EP Aviation unarmed.

Both of its embedded wing-mounted machine-guns were removed before it left Brazil, he said.

Ikedo said it would join a fleet of helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft also employed by EP Aviation.

He said discussions with the U.S. company had begun in 2006, before it faced criticism over the Iraqi killings last September.

In April, the State Department renewed the Blackwater contract in Iraq for a year while authorities investigate the incident, a move that prompted harsh criticism by the Iraqi government.

Embraer did not disclose the value of the deal with Blackwater, but company officials said that for the purposes of comparison, it had recently sold 25 Super Tucanos to the Colombian air force for $234.5 million. (Reporting by Tim Hepher, editing by Will Waterman)