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Brazil's aircraft manufacturer Embraer still sees a lot of sales potential for its KC-390 military transporter, with a particular focus on Europe - for which the Brazilians have a final assembly line in Poland in mind. An offer that Poland cannot refuse?
Embraer has already made it in Portugal, Hungary, Austria, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Sweden: these European nations will fly KC-390s in the future, and the twin-engine aircraft is already in service in Portugal and Hungary. While Hungary has purchased a transport aircraft of this size for the first time, the KC-390 is replacing the old Lockheed C-130 Hercules for the Portuguese. The Netherlands, Austria and Sweden are also procuring the Brazilian design as a Hercules successor.
A replacement for the C-130 is also under discussion in Poland - although the Polish Air Force did receive the first of a planned five used C-130Hs from the US Air Force in 2022, which had previously been stored for years at the Davis-Monthan aircraft cemetery. The entire quintet was built in 1985 and is intended to replace the even older C-130Es, which rolled out of the factory in 1970. However, this is not really a forward-looking business - which is why Embraer is officially offering the Polish government the KC-390 as a long-term solution.
Poland "the perfect location"
Frederico Lemos, Head of Sales at Embraer's armaments division, has a special treat in store for Poland: "Poland is not just a potential customer for us, but a genuine long-term operational and industrial partner and the perfect location for the European assembly line that we want to develop." If Warsaw opts for the KC-390, all Embraer transporters destined for European countries could eventually be assembled in Poland - including the aircraft for its own military, of course.
600 new jobs?
For the government of the ambitious NATO partner, which currently invests four percent of its annual gross domestic product in the military, this would certainly be an argument that it could not easily ignore. Especially as the Brazilians are also feeding their offer with concrete estimates: "Aircraft assembly and the associated aftermarket system, including maintenance and training, could lead to added value of almost one billion US dollars and 600 new jobs," calculates Embraer.
Poland has not yet responded to the offer. However, the move shows that Embraer has done its homework - and is continuing to aggressively position its product as an alternative to the latest Hercules C-130J version with increased self-confidence.
https://www.flugrevue.de/militaer/neue-militaertransporter-fuer-europa-baut-embraer-die-kc-390-bald-in-polen/