The Brazilian company Embraer, which has been creating the KC-390 military transport aircraft since 2007, unexpectedly found several partners over the past month who will take part in this program in the future. The Czech Republic, Portugal, Colombia and Chile decided to join it, which intend to purchase a total of 24 such machines. At the same time, Embraer, positioning its brainchild as a cheaper alternative to the American Super Hercules, expects a significant increase in orders not only from Latin American but also from European countries.
THERE WAS NO HOPE AND SUDDENLY …
Over the past three years, the future fate of the KC-390 has been shrouded in obscurity - the Brazilian Ministry of Defense, although it offered Embraer to develop a transport, was in no hurry to place orders for the aircraft. Along with this, there were no firm guarantees that the car would be purchased by other countries. In addition, most of the work was carried out at Embraer's own funds - the Brazilian government, having initially invested $ 33 million in the project, instructed the company to build only two KS-390 prototypes for testing for its Air Force.
Meanwhile, the entire program is estimated at $ 500-600 million. This amount includes design and development work, as well as the manufacture of the very prototypes of the transport aircraft. It should also be borne in mind that the creation of the KC-390 (originally bore the designation C-390) is an extraordinary task for Embraer: it will be the largest and heaviest aircraft ever produced by the company. Previously, the company produced only training vehicles and regional passenger liners of various classes.
Embraer actually had to rely on the interest of foreign military departments. This would make it possible to fully compensate for the development costs of the aircraft, and remain with a small profit. There was no hope for a large order from the domestic Air Force - from the very beginning they announced that they intend to replace 23 outdated Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules with the new KC-390. However, the company relied on the fact that other states will conclude large contracts with it for the supply of transport aircraft in order to also get a worthy successor to the C-130, which has served a lot.
Thus, according to the vice-president of Embraer Luis Carlos Aguilar, about 695 worn-out Hercules will be written off all over the world in the next ten years, the direct competitor of which is the KC-390. The advantage of the Brazilian KC-390 over the American C-130 lies in the cost, with other practically identical technical characteristics. The estimated price of one Embraer transport aircraft will be approximately $ 50 million, while the cheapest Hercules will cost $ 80 million.
The first glimpse on the horizon was at the end of 2008, when Brazil's national postal service Correios announced plans to buy five KC-390s and later place an order for 20-25 more. The transporters are supposed to be used for the transportation of parcels, letters and bulky goods. Later, the Brazilian government decided to allocate additional funds for the KC-390 project, and then the Portuguese Ministry of Defense unexpectedly announced plans to replace the C-130 with Embraer aircraft.
At the end of 2009, France and Sweden joined the list of potential buyers of KC-390. However, there is no need to seriously rely on future orders from these states - statements about the acquisition of the transport aircraft were made within the framework of the Brazilian F-X2 tender, in which the French Dassault Rafale fighter and the Swedish Saab JAS 39 Gripen are participating. Virtually every competitor has promised to consider signing contracts for the supply of the KC-390 if his aircraft wins the competition.
Business for Embraer only took off in 2010, when Brazil's Defense Ministry announced in July that it would acquire 28 new air force transports, in addition to the two prototypes it had already purchased. Further, the conclusion of the relevant agreements proceeded at an accelerated pace. At the end of August, Chile unexpectedly signed an agreement of intent with the Brazilian Ministry of Defense, within the framework of which the conditions for the country's participation in the creation of the KC-390 will be worked out. At the same time, the Chilean Air Force announced its readiness to buy six transporters.
In mid-August 2010, Argentine Defense Minister Nilda Garre announced that the department she heads would join the implementation of the Brazilian KC-390 program and acquire a number of such aircraft. True, she did not give exact numbers. According to the plans of the Argentine leadership in the next few years, the country's military spending will be increased from 0.9 to 1.5 percent of GDP, while the budget of the Ministry of Defense will grow by more than 50 percent. Additional funds are planned to be spent on the complete re-equipment of the ground forces, the naval forces and the air force.
On September 1, the Defense Ministry of Brazil and Colombia signed an agreement for the purchase of KS-390. The Air Force was the last to announce its intention to acquire 12 aircraft. Thus, the number of orders for the KC-390 almost overnight increased to 46 units.
On September 10, 2010, Portugal decided to join the project, which also announced its readiness to buy four Brazilian transport companies. In addition, Portuguese Defense Minister Augusto Santos Silva stressed that his country expects to participate in the development of the fuselage and wings of the KC-390, including aerodynamic calculations, as well as in the creation of information exchange equipment.
Four days later, the Czech Republic announced its desire to join the project - the corresponding letter of intent was signed on September 14. The conditions laid down by Prague have not yet been determined. The Czech company Aero Vodochody will presumably be engaged in the production of the rear fuselage, doors and deflectable wing tips.
The achievements of the Brazilian Embarer did not end there - on September 24, negotiations began with the Ministry of Defense of the United Arab Emirates.
TECHNICAL SIDE
According to the main project, the Embraer KC-390 is designed according to the layout of a high-wing aircraft with a T-shaped tail unit and two turbofan jet engines. The PW6000 engines of the American company Pratt & Whitney and BR715 of the British Rolls-Royce with a thrust of 75.6-98 kilonewtons are considered as options for the KC-390 power plants. They will allow the aircraft to reach speeds of up to Mach 0.8 (about 920 kilometers per hour) and fly with full load at a distance of up to 2.6 thousand kilometers.
The cargo ladder will be located in the tail section of the aircraft, which will be able to transport not only troops, but also various types of equipment. Carrying capacity of the machine will be 23.6 tons. It should also be noted that the KC-390, in addition to the functions of a transport operator, will perform the functions of a tanker. For this, the car will receive flexible hoses at the ends of the wings in order to simultaneously refuel two aircraft. It is also possible that in the modified version of the KC-390, a fuel rod will appear in the tail section.
For comparison: the American military transport aircraft C-130J Super Hercules, proposed by Lockheed Martin as a replacement for the outdated C-130 Hercules, is built on a high-wing layout with a classic tail. The aircraft is equipped with four Rolls-Royce AE2100D3 turboprop engines, which allow the aircraft to fly at a speed of 671 kilometers per hour for a distance of 5, 2 thousand kilometers. Carrying capacity - 19-20 tons, depending on the modification. The C-130J is available in transporter, tanker, tanker, patrol, and meteorological laboratory versions.
The KC-390 will obviously come in several modifications. So, if an order comes from Carreios, the plane will be built in the form of a transport aircraft without the possibility of refueling other aircraft. In addition, some of the customers can order the car as a tanker, where the cargo compartment will be replaced with additional fuel tanks. At the same time, the Brazilian media do not exclude the possibility of creating variants of the KC-390 for the ground forces and the Brazilian Navy. However, this information has not yet been officially confirmed.
Embraer assumes that the first flight of the KC-390 will take place in 2014, and the delivery of the first serial transports to the Brazilian Air Force will begin in 2016. In the future, it is planned to open the production of parts for the KS-390 on the territory of the partner countries of the project, which will allow Embraer to increase the production of serial aircraft. According to Embraer, the number of orders for the KC-390 will increase closer to the launch of serial production. First of all, the clients of the Brazilian company will be the countries of Latin America, most of which have already begun implementing their own programs for the modernization of the armed forces.
