Embraer KC-390 Millennium

Surprised that Sweden has gone down that route of combining their order with The Netherlands? I wonder what happened to make them choose that way?
 
FighterJock said:
Surprised that Sweden has gone down that route of combining their order with The Netherlands? I wonder what happened to make them choose that way?
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Netherlands order would be fitted to NATO standards, so it'd make sense for Sweden to just say "make ours just like those". It probably got them a bit of a price break, since the line would be set up for that.

Question would be when the Swedish birds would be delivered. Typically I'd guess at the end of Netherlands production, but it could be N get half of their order, Sweden gets 2 birds, N get other half of order, S gets other 2 birds.
 
Quite, the KC-390 is far faster and much more modern than the C-130. While I am not going against the C-130 it is a good transport aircraft but the current politics may sway many countries against the Herc.
 
The 390 still has to prove its worth as a short/unprepared airfield cargo airlifter.
Most of the interest generated are for a C-141 substitute that Europe never got. The 390 is yet not a C-130 competitor.

The group buy makes also much sense in order to have a fully compliant NATO system. Fokker, an historical Netherlands airframer, leads the path for this.

These modifications will prepare the aircraft for use as tactical transport for Special Operations of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), fulfilling a broad range of military and humanitarian missions. The final operating configuration will be the most extensive C-390M version once delivered and will be far beyond ‘just’ a transport aircraft.
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https://fokkerservicesgroup.com/new...roup-for-c-390m-aircraft-modification-package
 
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Now Poland, Finland and Turkey going to buy the KC-390 snne? That is going to be good for Embraer.
 
TomcatViP said:
Most of the interest generated are for a C-141 substitute that Europe never got. The 390 is yet not a C-130 competitor.
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It's very much a C-130 competitor and EMBRAER is pitching it to that market. The 130's rough field performance is frequently overstated - it's nothing spectacular.

It's not that the 390 is in a class above, just that that 130 is constrained by being specced as a replacement for the DC-4 / C-117 over seventy years ago. Throw away that legacy and you get something like the 390.
 
There's a rumor about Mexico acquiring some Milleniums.

Funds for the Air Force's acquisition of new Super Hercules "J"s have been frozen for almost a decade, and this year's Mexican Aerospace Fair (to be held next month) is dedicated to Brazil. The government recently placed an order for 10x E190-E2s & 10x E195-Es for its airline, which represents a rapprochement and a very plausible and lucrative commercial relationship for both parties. Lets remember Aerial Surveillance Squadron (EVA) already operates E145 SA & MPs.

Currently the AF only has 2 remaining Hercules (the fleet used to be 3x modernized -E /L182s but #3616 is now lost in a fraud scheme in the US) as the medium-"heavy"lift capabilities are always short and in the need.
 
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It would make a lot of sense especially for Mexico's needs and they have already bought E-145s. There has been a lot of recent investment into the Aerospace industry in Mexico, so seeing Embraer jumping in is not surprising at all. I'd love to see some new fighters to replace the F-5Es, but the heavy lift is a higher and more necessary need.
 
Mexico is also a big country with distances b/w places beyond European ones. Jet speed matters there.

iu
 
Kiltonge said:
It's very much a C-130 competitor and EMBRAER is pitching it to that market. The 130's rough field performance is frequently overstated - it's nothing spectacular.

It's not that the 390 is in a class above, just that that 130 is constrained by being specced as a replacement for the DC-4 / C-117 over seventy years ago. Throw away that legacy and you get something like the 390.
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It's also worth noting that for a great many Hercules export customers (even before the J-model) the intended role was exactly that of a poor man's strategic airlifter, rather than a theatre transport. This capability isn't some peripheral attribute of aircraft in that market space, it's very much a central part of their appeal.

If EMBRAER placed greater design emphasis on it relative to the C-130, that may well have happened at the explicit request of potential customers.
 
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Hungarian reception process. Interesting that the aircraft is stated to replace their An-26 that have far lower performances (you would have though that a replacement for such would be more in the C-295 category*):

View: https://youtu.be/xyJKOwaaAnI

*If you hadn´t read Old Tomcat conclusions on its market share ;)
 
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TomcatViP said:
The 390 still has to prove its worth as a short/unprepared airfield cargo airlifter.
Most of the interest generated are for a C-141 substitute that Europe never got.
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Thought that was supposed to be the A400M.
 
The UAE has signed a deal with Embraer for 10 C‑390 Millennium aircraft, with the option to buy ten more. After thorough testing in UAE conditions, the move is set to replace the old C‑130H/L‑100‑30 fleet. A local partnership will handle MRO and support for the new planes. The C‑390 will boost mission flexibility, covering everything from airlift and airdrop to humanitarian and medical missions.
Source:
https://www.scramble.nl/military-news/up-to-20-c-390-millennium-for-the-uae-air-force
 
FighterJock said:
Looks very smart, let's see if that is the final colour scheme. I will be very happy if it is.
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the one above? that looks like a color scheme intended for air shows and demonstration purposes.
the UAE colors will likely be the same as the one in the video, the same as nearly every other C390 customer. So far only Brazil seems to have a different one.
 
carvalho2008 said:
C-390-Millennium-faz-testes-de-operacao-em-pista-nao-pavimentada-1536x1024.jpg
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Nice to show a picture but the ability for the C-390 to operate in that role continually is still unproven. The primary operator Brazil has essentially half their fleet available, two have been damaged in accidents with one likely to be written off due to a heavy landing. One has been in maintenance for over two years and a couple more have been in maintenance for under one year with no sign of coming out.

While it is still early in the types life it doesn't bode well for future operators if Brazil and Embraer cannot maintain such a young fleet
 
Ozair said:
Nice to show a picture but the ability for the C-390 to operate in that role continually is still unproven. The primary operator Brazil has essentially half their fleet available, two have been damaged in accidents with one likely to be written off due to a heavy landing. One has been in maintenance for over two years and a couple more have been in maintenance for under one year with no sign of coming out.

While it is still early in the types life it doesn't bode well for future operators if Brazil and Embraer cannot maintain such a young fleet
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Low availability in Brazil is a result of FAB lack of resources ($$$). Nothing wrong with the plane or EMBRAER.
 
Ad Sumus said:
Low availability in Brazil is a result of FAB lack of resources ($$$). Nothing wrong with the plane or EMBRAER.
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Disagree, aircraft waiting that long to be repaired isn't a great sign this early on in the program. We also have Embraer not meeting their own delivery commitments year on year.
 

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