Embraer’s Multinational KC-390 Tactical Air Transport Program
Related Stories: Africa, Americas - Other, Contracts - Awards, FOCUS Articles, Other Corporation, Transport & Utility
(click to view full)
Global competition in the 20-ton air transport segment continues to intensify, with Brazil’s launch of its KC-390 program. Embraer figures reportedly place the global C-130 replacement market at around 700 aircraft. In response, it will develop a jet-powered rival to compete with Lockheed Martin’s C-130J, the larger Airbus A400M, Russia’s AN-12 and its Chinese copy the Yunshu-8, and the bi-national Irkut/HAL MRTA project. Smaller aircraft like the EADS-CASA C-295M and Alenia C-27J may also represent indirect competition.
Brazil’s aerospace industry has made impressive global gains in the civilian business and regional jet segments, and in the military market for primary trainer and counterinsurgency aircraft. Slumping civilian demand recently led to layoffs, but rising Brazilian defense budgets give the government a lever to inject funds into the company, while completing a strategic project that has been under consideration for a couple of years.
Embraer will now seek to extend its efforts and markets by crafting a jet-powered medium transport with a cargo capacity around 20 tons, that can be refueled in the air, and can provide refueling services to other aircraft by adding dedicated pods. Thanks to a deal with France, the KC-390 looks set to become a multinational effort…
- KC-390 Program and Structure
- Contracts and Key Events [updated]
- Additional Readings: Competitors
KC-390 Program and Structure
(click to view full)
The initial Brazilian contract calls for 3 development aircraft. A 20-plane order is expected to follow, in order to replace the Brazilian Air Force’s 21 C-130E/H and 2 KC-130H Hercules planes. That country also flies 10 aged DHC-5 Buffalo tactical transports; they are excellent aircraft, but their remaining lifespans are questionable.
The aircraft design itself will belong to the Brazilian government, with Embraer as the lead technical and industrial partner. All talks to join the program will be conducted at a government-to-government level, and the process of adding “risk sharing” partners will be a top-down process that results in directives handed down to Embraer. Note that this kind of arrangement can create program risks, and obstacles to an aggressive schedule, if the partners selected by the Brazilian government fail to perform on an industrial level.
Embraer’s schedule is an aggressive one, with the KC-390’s final configuration is expected to be settled over the next 24 months, via a pair of definition studies.
Key decisions will include the aircraft’s engines, which will need to be in the 27,000 pound thrust class. A number of commercial aircraft engines from manufacturers like GE/Safran’s CFM, Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls Royce could fit that requirement. France’s participation in the KC-390 program seems set to weight that choice very heavily in favor of CFM, whose CFM56-5B is one of several variants that could fit the project’s requirements.
Other foreign risk sharing partners would likely ramp up their own participation during the 12-month follow-on Joint Definition Phase, set to begin in 2011.
Contracts and Key Events
(click to view full)
Sept 5/09: Brazil’s Ministerio Da Defesa announces that Brazil has secured French cooperation to develop Embraer’s KC-390 medium transport. Other reports indicate that France is set to buy 10-12 of the aircraft when they’re introduced. This would give the Armee de l’Air a small fleet that would offset the risks of late A400M delivery, provide a second source of immediate relief for the ancient C-160 Transall fleet, and offer a lower-capacity option that could either be used as a transport supplement, or converted to specialty roles.
The KC-390 announcement is part of an incipient deal for France’s Rafale fighters, and French technology transfer across a broad range of projects was reportedly the critical factor in the deal. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva described the Rafale buy as “definitively consolidating a strategic partnership we started in 2005.” Brazil will now produce helicopters (EC725), submarines (nuclear-powered and diesel-electric), transport aircraft (KC-390) and possibly fighters (Rafale) in cooperation with France, under a broad strategic partnership in the defense arena. MDD announcement [Portuguese] | Agence France Presse | France24 | CS Monitor | Reuters.
June 15/09: Aviation Week reports that Brazil is in talks with other countries to make the KC-390 an international program. Embraer’s EVP for defense and government programs, Orlando Jose Ferreira Neto, expects that foreign partners could be added as early as the end of 2009. He adds that it will be a top-down government process, with accompanying directives handed down to Embraer.
The article adds that Embraer’s choice of its 27,000 pound thrust class engine will also be made in the next 24 months. Safran has reportedly said they will bid one of their GE partnership’s CFM engines. Pratt & Whitney and Rolls Royce are also obvious contenders.
May 1/09: South Africa’s Engineering News reports interest among South African industry, but the country is already committed to buying 8-14 of Airbus’ larger A400M transport. Some of the skills involved in that order would definitely transfer, but a South African KC-390 order would be fiscally difficult. Excerpt:
“In February, Denel Saab Aerostructures (DSA) CEO Lana Kinley told Engineering News Online that “we are very interested in having Embraer as a customer, and in being a risk-sharing partner on the C-390”. DSA sister company Denel Dynamics is already involved in a partnership with the FAB to develop the A-Darter air-to-air missile.”
April 14/09: At the 7th Latin America Aero and Defence (LAAD) trade fair in Rio de Janeiro, Embraer announces a contract from the Brazilian government to develop the KC-390. Figures are not disclosed, but the project’s scope is reported in other venues as around $1.4 – 1.5 billion over 7 years, with the aim of manufacturing 23 planes for Brazil, and inducting the first operational aircraft in 2015.
As noted below, Colombia has expressed interest in a partnership. South Africa’s Engineering News reports that South Africa’s Denel Saab Aerostructures may also be interested in participating, but South Africa itself may face budget issues that would get in the way of a purchase. It is currently facing additional levies to keep its aging C-130 fleet flying, and has committed substantial funds to its participation in the larger A400M program. Flight International | Engineering News | M & C Business.
Some reports say that Embraer’s upgrade of 12 Brazilian Navy A-4 Skyhawks [PDF], which fly from the carrier Sao Paolo (ex-Foch), is also part of this overall contract. Work on the Skyhawks will include restoration work, as well as new avionics, radar, electrical power, and autonomous oxygen generating systems; subcontracts to Elbit’s AEL are likely.
March 11/09: Brazil’s Ministerio da Defensa says that Colombia’s defense minister Juan Manoel Saints has expressed interest in becoming a partner in the KC-390 project, following their favorable experience with Embraer’s EMB-312 Tucano and EMB-314 Super Tucano trainers and light attack aircraft.
The comments come as the countries look to build bilaterial aerial surveillance along their common border, and Saints also makes a point of noting that the overall industrial and political relationship with Brazil is a strategic priority for Colombia. Spain’s El Economista | Defense-Aerospace translation.
April 19/07: Flight International reports that Embraer has revealed planned details of its medium tactical transport, the C-390. This 19 tonne/ 21-ton capacity twin-jet airlifter will feature a high wing, rear ramp, fly-by-wire controls, and aerial refueling capabilities, and will compete in the replacement C-130 market.
Additional Readings: Competitors
- DID – HAL and Irkut’s Joint Tactical Transport Project. they hope the deliver the aircraft between 2015-2020. If Embraer can meet its stretch goal of 2015, the competitive timing could be significant.
- The Aviation Zone – Antonov AN-12 (Cub). Includes information about the Chinese Y-8s.
- DID Spotlight – A400M Delays Creating Contract Controversies. 2015 would appear to be crunch time for the global market, as several entries plan to debut. The A400M is likely to debut in 2013, but clearing its order backlog will take several years.
