Brazil's Embraer pitches its C-390 Millennium to India for its Medium Transport Aircraft acquisition
31 Aug 2023 17:40:53
Embraer Defence & Space recently held the Embraer C-390 Millennium Day in New Delhi, India, in an effort to deepen engagement with the aerospace and defence industry in India and provide more information on Embraer’s suite of Defence & Security products and solutions, in particular, the C-390 Millennium.
Pic by Steven Howard of Travelnewsasia.com
Earlier this year, the Indian Air Force issued a Request For Information for a new fleet of Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA) aircraft which Embraer has responded to, offering the C-390 Millennium as the platform of choice. The C-390 Millennium was on display at AeroIndia in February 2023 where guests toured the modern military tactical transport aircraft.Its multi-mission platform offers incomparable mobility, combining high productivity and operating flexibility with low operating costs, which is an unbeatable combination. The C-390 can carry more payload (26 tons) compared to other medium-sized military cargo aircraft and flies faster (470 knots) and farther, being capable of performing a wide range of missions such as transporting and dropping cargo and troops, medical evacuation, search and rescue, firefighting, and humanitarian missions, operating on temporary or unpaved runways such as packed earth, soil and gravel.
In the refueling version, the aircraft had already demonstrated aerial refueling capability, and the aircraft received fuel from another KS 390 using an external unit installed under the wing.
It is the only aircraft in the world capable of doing this in its segment. Since commissioning at the FAB in 2019, the S-390 has proven its power, reliability and performance. The current six aircraft, with an in-air refueling version designated KS-390, have already flown more than 9,500 hours.
According to the latest data, operational readiness is around 80% and mission completion rate is over 99%, showing excellent performance in this category. There are orders for the S-390 Millennium from NATO member countries Portugal and Hungary.
The Netherlands, which is also a member of NATO, has chosen the C-390 Millennium for 2022. Embraer has a strong presence in India with a fleet of approximately 40 aircraft in the defense, commercial aviation and civil aviation sectors.
Embraer has delivered more than 8,000 aircraft since its founding in 1969. On average, about every 10 seconds, an Embraer aircraft takes off from somewhere in the world, carrying more than 145 million passengers a year.