Embraer Defense & Security last Friday handed over the sixth KC-390 Millennium to the Força Aérea Brasileira (FAB, Brazilian air force). The delivery involves the first aircraft in the full operational capability (FOC) standard, in which it meets all the requirements set out by the FAB. Embraer will update the previous aircraft to the same standard, and it also deliver export aircraft in FOC configuration.
“It is special to deliver the first aircraft in the FOC configuration to FAB,” said Bosco da Costa Junior, president and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security. “Although FAB has already deployed the aircraft in various different missions, inside Brazil and abroad, it will now be able to fully and definitively take advantage of the full capacity of the C-390, showing the world everything that this aircraft can deliver.”
Last week also saw the inauguration of the first full flight simulator for the KC-390, located at the Embraer Academy in the Eugénio de Mello unit at São José de Campos, Brazil. Both Brazilian and export customer aircrew will train in the simulator. Qualified to D-level, the simulator can replicate more than 350 types of failure. Embraer selected Rheinmetall Aviation Services to provide training systems for the Millennium.
Brazil has ordered 19 KC-390s, initially for service with the first troop transport group at Anápolis, which received its first aircraft in 2019. The first five KC-390s, all able to undertake inflight refueling, have now accumulated nearly 9,000 flight hours—including two resupply missions to Antarctica. Operational availability runs at around 80 percent, with a mission completion rate of above 99 percent.
Firm export sales have come from NATO members Hungary (two aircraft) and Portugal (five, plus one option). The first aircraft for Portugal went to Beja in October, prior to its integration with NATO systems and subsequent certification by AAN, Portugal’s national aviation authority. Ogma, Embraer’s Portuguese subsidiary, will oversee the work.
In June 2022 the Netherlands selected the C-390 to replace its C-130H Hercules fleet, but the would-be customer has not yet placed a firm order primarily to the length of time taken for the acquisition to work its way through government processes, set for completion before the end of the year. The Netherlands wants to begin accepting aircraft in 2026.