The Brazilian manufacturer Embraer has now found another export customer for its C-390 Millenium transporter in Hungary. Austria’s eastern neighbor is the second European country and the second NATO member to place a firm order for the type. Hungary’s air force (Magyar Légierő) will receive the two aircraft between 2023 and 2024 and plans to use the type across the full spectrum as a transporter, tanker and flying intensive care unit.
After Portugal ordered five C-390s on August 22, 2019, Hungary is the second European NATO country to opt for the twin-engine military transporter from Gavião Peixoto. No financial volume was specified for the contract signed between the manufacturer and the Hungarian government, but the five aircraft for Portugal – expected to be delivered by 2027, just like the 28 planned aircraft for Brazil – are expected to cost around 827 million euros. The Hungarian contract includes pilot and technician training as well as manufacturer support and other services.
Hungary wants to use the C-390 – the letter K, which focuses on the tanker, has been omitted from the type designation since last December – for cargo and troop transport, tactical transport and paratrooper missions, search & rescue and for refueling its Saab JAS 39C/D Gripen, according to its own statements. The Budapest government in the person of Gáspár Maróth, the Hungarian Government Commissioner for Defense Development, praised the aircraft to the MIT news agency as a “particularly versatile, modern and robust replacement” for the last Antonov-26, which was retired in June. “We will receive a versatile multi-role platform that can be used as a tanker aircraft as well as a freighter for a wide range of national missions. In addition, Hungary will be the first country whose C-390s can also be used as flying intensive care units for MedEvac operations and humanitarian missions. The procurement will complement the A319 and Falcon 7X government aircraft, which are mainly suitable for passenger transportation and were acquired in 2018.”
The manufacturer Embraer sees the aircraft as the ideal solution for the requirements profile set by Hungary. The company is honored that “Hungary has selected the most advanced high-performance aircraft in this market segment for its purposes,” said Jackson Medeiros De Farias Schneider, Director of Embraer’s armaments division. According to its C-390 program manager Paulo Gastão Silva, the twin-engine shoulder-wing aircraft “offers an unmatched combination of speed, robustness, unmatched payload for the class, quick reconfiguration and easy maintenance – ideally suited for operations of all kinds.” Embraer took the military transporter on its maiden flight on February 3, 2015. Companies from the USA, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France, Argentina and Italy are involved as suppliers, while the entire rear ramp, among other things, comes from our neighboring country, the Czech Republic. The C-390 is powered by two V2500 engines from International Aero Engines, which – depending on the mission – can achieve much higher speeds and ranges compared to propeller aircraft (such as the C-130 Hercules). The payload of cargo or kerosene or a combination is around 23 tons. So far, 35 orders have been received for the type: five from Portugal, 28 from Brazil and now two from Hungary. The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) has been operating the transporter since September 4, 2019. The first international mission took place in August with an aid delivery to Beirut after the explosion, from Fortaleza via Cap Verde and Valencia.
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