Embraer, together with the US defense contractor L3Harris, wanted to make the KC-390 appealing to the US Air Force as an "agile tanker". But L3Harris pulled out in 2024. Now the Brazilians are trying to go it alone - and are sending the KC-390 on a PR tour of the USA.
Embraer is riding the wave of success with its KC-390 multi-role military aircraft. Several NATO countries have already placed firm orders for the twin-engine tanker and transporter, including the Netherlands, Sweden and the Czech Republic. Austria has also opted for the KC-390. The KC-390 is already in service in Brazil, Portugal and Hungary and has passed its first tests. In purely quantitative terms, however, Embraer's sales successes in ten countries so far are not to be taken lightly. The largest customer is the Brazilian Air Force with 19 firm orders. It is followed by Portugal and the Netherlands with five KC-390s each and Austria and Sweden with four each. Orders for a total of 42 aircraft are on the books.
A major order from the USA could catapult the number of aircraft to be produced to a whole new level. For this reason, Embraer has been trying for some time to get a foot in the door with the US Air Force with the KC-390. Initially, the Brazilians worked with the US defense contractor L3Harris. Together, they designed studies that showed a tanker and transporter optimized for the US Air Force with a fixed tank boom at the rear. However, the partnership with L3Harris ended in the fall of 2024 - due to "different priorities", as Embraer put it at the time.
Embraer turns up the heat
However, this did not mean the end for the KC-390 in the USA - on the contrary. Embraer is currently stepping up its efforts to make its military jet appealing to the US armed forces. A delegation from the manufacturer is currently visiting the annual "Special Operations Forces Week (SOF Week)" in Tampa (Florida) with a KC-390 from the Brazilian Air Force in order to highlight the advantages of its aircraft for special military missions. This is already the third stop in the USA for the Brazilians within a short space of time. Previously, the KC-390 had celebrated its premiere at the ARSAG (Aerial Refueling Systems Advisory Group) armaments conference in Las Vegas.
Even after the end of the partnership with L3Harris, Embraer is certain that the KC-390 with its "unbeatable price-performance ratio" meets the needs of the US Air Force exactly. "It is the best aircraft in its class and is perfect for special missions as it can perform a variety of tasks, including air-to-air refueling and tactical transport missions," comments Jake Williams, Embraer's armaments division manager for North American operations. As a state-of-the-art platform with a comprehensive sensor and communications suite, self-protection systems and suitability "for all air force mission profiles", the KC-390 leaves nothing to be desired in the field, according to Embraer's Mr. Williams - especially as it can be used for both tactical and strategic missions thanks to its economical turbofan engine.
Boom as a basic requirement
In order for Embraer to be successful with the KC-390 in the USA, the development of a version with a central boom tanker is a basic requirement. According to Frederico Lemos, Chief Commercial Officer of Embraer Defense & Security, after the end of the cooperation with L3Harris, the Brazilians are therefore looking for new forms of partnership in order to realize such an "agile tanker" variant. However, the core competence of the KC-390 as a transport aircraft should not be affected by this, according to Lemos. According to the Embraer manager, he is also considering a possible final assembly of the US version in the United States - whereby the KC-390 already meets the requirements of the US government's "Buy American Act" thanks to its numerous US components, avionics and engines, for example, as Lemos emphasizes.
