Embraer C-390 Millennium | Is it the real alternative to the C-130J Super Hercules?

Embraer C-390 Millennium | Is it the real alternative to the C-130J Super Hercules?

The C-390 Millennium has become popular with its recent success in the Netherlands and Portugal. This medium-sized military transport aircraft is the only sensible competitor of the C-130J Super Hercules in the international market. This story reminds us of the competition between the C-160 Transall and C-130 Hercules. But also, there are so many differences.

The C-390 is an intriguing medium-sized military transport aircraft. The wise decisions of Embraer in the past have paved the way for such a cleverly project. At present, the C-390 is attracting many potential customers. But, will the future of this aircraft be bright? Let’s briefly look at C-390’s history and features before seeking the answer to the question.

In 2005, Embraer began a study on a transport aircraft with the wing and General Electric CF34 turbofan engine of the Embraer 190. It is still unclear whether this project is for direct military or civil use.

But, one year later, the company directly began to work on a military tactical transport aircraft design, which would have a similar size to the C-130 Hercules. In 2007, Embraer announced the project worldwide. Initially, the aircraft was named C-390. Yet, the name was later changed to KC-390 since it would provide air refuelling for other aircraft. In 2008, Brasília decided to fund the project and considered acquiring 22 to 30 aircraft.

Initially, Embraer considered the Pratt & Whitney PW6000 and the Rolls-Royce BR715 turbofan engines for the new aircraft. But, after a careful assessment, it has chosen the IAE V2500 as the powerplant.

Brazil awarded Embraer with a contract to develop and build two prototypes on April 14, 2009.

The company, which enjoyed government support, also began to seek possible international partners. After 2010, Argentine, Chile, Colombia, Czechia, and Portugal joined the project, and many foreign subcontractors have also become part of it.

For example, the Czech Aero Vodochody company would design and produce the rear fuselage section, with the loading ramp, the leading edge of the wing and all hatches of the cabin.

The Portuguese OGMA company, whose 45 per cent of its shares belong to Embraer, has become responsible for the central fuselage section.

The Argentine Fábrica Argentina de Aviones company would supply the tail cone, cargo door and landing gear doors.

Rockwell Collins would develop some avionics, including the cargo handling and aerial delivery system.

BAE Systems has become the subcontractor for the fly-by-wire primary flight control system.

The first prototype of the KC-390 made its maiden flight on February 3, 2015.

Initially, the test phase had scheduled for 18 to 24 months. But, the economic problems in Brazil caused an eight-month extension in the programme.

The in-flight refuelling trials began on February 19, 2017.

After 1,900 flight hours in testing, the KC-390 received Brazilian civil type certification on October 23, 2018.

The first mass-produced KC-390 made its first flight on October 9, 2018. The Brazilian Air Force took this aircraft into service on September 4, 2019. A month later, Embraer announced that it would henceforth market the new aircraft as the C-390 Millennium.

Due to financial austerity measures caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, Brazilia reduced its C-390 order from 28 to 22 in 2011. At least six aircraft will be delivered permanently configured for aerial refuelling missions. But, all remaining will also have a design that can be quickly adapted to this role.

Boeing and Embraer signed a cooperation agreement in 2012. In 2019, they even announced a joint venture called Boeing Embraer-Defense for marketing the C-390. Through this cooperation, Embraer would get a chance to reach a bigger market and use Boeing’s worldwide service support facilities. On the other hand, Boeing would be able to compete with Lockheed Martin, one of its biggest rivals, in the medium-size military transport aircraft market. Yet, Boeing terminated the joint venture in 2020.

The C-390’s fly-by-wire flight control system with active sidesticks allows load factors up to 3g. The wing flaps have hydraulic controls. There is also an electrical system as a backup.

The nose section is short and sloping downwards, increasing the pilot’s vision.

The C-390 has commercial-standard cockpit avionics with the Rockwell Collins Pro-Line Fusi suite, also used by Embraer’s Legacy 450 and 500 business jets.

The pilot and co-pilot have head-up displays for the enhanced vision system with four cameras. The cockpit is compatible for use with night vision goggles.

Thanks to its extended slats, idle thrust and flight spoilers extended to 40 degrees, the C-390 can descend at a rate of 9,000 feet per minute at its 560 kilometres per hour maximum indicated airspeed.

With its flaps at 40 degrees, the aircraft’s stall speed is 193 kilometres per hour.

The aircraft can take off and land from semi-prepared runways with pits as deep as 40 centimetres.

The cargo bay is 18.5 metres long, 3.45 metres wide, and 2.95 metres high. The C-390 has a 26-ton maximum load capacity.

So, it can carry two M113 tracked armoured personnel carriers, one VBTP-MR Guarani wheeled armoured vehicle, one UH-60 helicopter, 74 stretchers with life-support equipment, up to 80 soldiers, or 66 paratroopers with full gear.

The C-390 has a computer-aided release system produced by Rockwell Collins. So, the pilot or co-pilot can control the rear ramp. This feature eliminates the need for a loadmaster.

Thanks to the 912E fuel-delivering system produced by Cobham PLC, the C-390 can refuel other aircraft in-flight through two wing-mounted probes and drogue pods. It can deliver up to 1,500 litres of fuel per minute at a speed of between 220 to 560 kilometres per hour.

The Brazilian C-390s have a defensive suite, including radar and missile warning receivers, chaff and flare dispensers, produced by Elbit Systems.

In 2011, Embraer announced that it would develop a civilian KC-390 with an extended fuselage.

The company is also working on a surveillance variant of the C-390 with Leonardo’s T20 radar.

Brazil, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Portugal have already ordered the aircraft.

Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Czechia are the close candidates for the KC-390. Also, Peru and the United Arab Emirates expressed their intention to acquire the aircraft.

The three-person crew of the C-390 consists of a pilot, co-pilot and loadmaster. The aircraft has a length of 35.2 metres, a wingspan of 35.05 metres, and a height of 11.84 metres. The maximum takeoff weight of the C-390 is about 87 tons. The powerplant consists of two 139.4 kiloNewton IAE V2500-E5 turbofan engines. Its top speed is 988 kilometres per hour, while its cruise speed is 870 kilometres per hour. The service ceiling is about 11,000 metres, in other words, 36,000 feet. The aircraft range is 2,820 kilometres with 23-ton cargo and 2,110 kilometres with 26-ton cargo.

Once upon a time, the French-German joint military transport aircraft, C-160 Transall, dared to challenge the mighty C-130 Hercules.

But the C-130 beat the C-160 globally. The Hercules was more reliable and capable than the Transall. Also, the production capacity of the U.S. Lockheed company was much higher than its European rivals. During the First Cold War conditions, the production of aircraft in large numbers at low prices was possible for a U.S. aviation company. They were the fact that made the C-130 more affordable. Besides, when the U.S. Air Force took more capable Hercules variants into its service, Washington gave the older models to other allied countries at low prices or even free.

The C-160 could never compete with these advantages.

At first glance, the situation for the C-390 may seem remarkably similar to this story. But it is not. First of all, it is a different world.

Today, no U.S. aviation company can produce aircraft in large numbers at low prices due to its high margin profit-oriented policy.

Embraer estimated that the world would need 695 military transport aircraft to replace the ageing ones in the next decade.

Lockheed Martin cannot produce enough Super Hercules to fulfil this requirement. This company has the potential to increase its production capacity, thanks to its technological and financial superiority. But, it is not an economically feasible way.

And today, Washington has no luxury of giving its allies surplus transport aircraft at a low price or even free to replace their ageing C-130s.

Besides, the unit cost of the C-390 is considerable low than the C-130J, its biggest rival in the market. Also, it can carry over 7 tons more cargo than the Super Hercules. And it is faster.

The Millenium’s IAE V2500 turbofans are also used by the Airbus 320.

It makes maintenance and finding spare parts easy.

Even though the C-130J has its own advantages, such as range, widespread global support service and the political aid of Washington, there is a great open space for Embraer.

But does a shining future await the C-390? It is still too soon to claim that. Presumably, the U.S.A. won’t mind losing some small markets, but it won’t hesitate to fight hard for the bigger ones. After all, France and Sweden expressed their acquisition intentions for C-390 as a type of bribery. These countries intended to make their offers to Brazil more attractive for the F-X2 Programme.

After Brasília chose the Gripen, Paris and Stockholm immediately changed their direction.

But, Sweden, which has preferred to perform a mid-life upgrade programme for its ageing C-130s fleet, may still choose the C-390 in the future.

The vision of Embraer is the key to the current and potential success of the C-390.

Recently, many new aviation companies have joined the competition in the market. They generally prefer fancy and ambitious jet fighter development programmes.

Maybe, the experience of another Brazilian defence company, Engesa, has enlightened Embraer’s way. Engesa developed and sold many successful armoured vehicles in the 1970s. It was one of the major producers in this area. Encouraged by this success, the company developed a main battle tank in the 1980s, challenging its major Western rivals. And the ambitious attempt resulted in Engesa’s bankruptcy.

Embraer has developed and produced many successful commercial and military aircraft types. The major Western aviation companies lost their interest in these types of planes a long time ago. This policy has made Embraer highly successful so far.

Besides, unlike A400M Programme, which has caused many debates and problems, the industrial cooperation approach of the C-390 is proceeding smoothly and fruitfully.

The C-390 is the product of the visionary policy of Embraer. It can compete with the C-130J, the strongest rival in the market. It is affordable and capable. Embraer will generously reap a harvest of this successful project soon.

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