In March 2011 Embraer began awarding contracts to suppliers. Schedule slippage meant that by this point the first flight milestone had slipped to mid-2014, with an initial operating capability to be achieved in 2016. All five countries secured industrial involvement in the program in exchange.įollowing these letters of intent Embraer worked to finalize the industrial arrangements that would underlie full-rate production of the aircraft, and by February 2011 it was close to securing approval from the FAB for its selections for the KC-390’s main systems. In November Argentina announced its intent to acquire six. Commitments from Portugal and the Czech Republic followed later the same month, the two countries agreeing to acquire six and two aircraft, respectively. In September 2010 Chile and Colombia indicated they intended to procure six and twelve aircraft, respectively. At the original payload requirement, the design could travel 2,000 nmi (3,704 km). Note that by this time Embraer studies indicated a goal of 23 metric tons (50,706 lb.) of payload against the 19 metric-ton goal of the original proposal. In July 2010, the FAB committed to acquiring 28 KC-390s. In the early phases of the program Embraer also considered marketing a derivative of the aircraft to commercial customers looking to replace Boeing 757 freighters. The new design also envisaged a short-field austere landing capability, including the ability to cope with icy runways so that the KC-390 could support Brazil’s Antarctic research presence. The requirement stipulated a payload capacity of 19 metric tons (41,888 lb.) over a 1,400 nmi (2,593 km) range. This concept was discarded in favor of the clean-sheet KC-390 design, which emerged in response to a Brazilian requirement for the replacement of aging Lockheed Martin C-130E Hercules tactical airlifters. The KC-390 was not Embraer’s first proposal for a military tanker/transport aircraft, however, as it had in 2007 described concept studies into a cargo derivative of the Embraer 190 regional jet.
CRITICAL OPS CASE OPENING FULL
This $1.3 billion ($1.56 billion in 2019 USD) contract for two prototypes envisaged a first flight in 2012 and entry into FAB service in 2015, with the FAB paying the full cost of development. The KC-390 program was initiated in April 2009 under a seven-year contract between Embraer and the Brazilian Air Force (FAB).
The Embraer C-390 Millennium is a medium military transport aircraft powered by two IAE V2500-E5 turbofan engines capable of supplying 31,330 lbf.
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