DefenseNorthrop Grumman could be Embraer’s new partner in efforts to seek a deal to supply the KC-390 Millennium to the US military.
The statement was made by Bosco da Costa Junior, CEO of the Brazilian company’s Defense & Security division, in an interview with Flight Global.
According to him, the two companies are discussing a potential partnership, but it is at an early stage.
A major US defense and space corporation, Northrop Grumman is behind advanced projects such as the Air Force’s 6th generation B-21 Raider stealth bomber.
Although it does not have an airlift and refueling aircraft, Northrop has already partnered with Airbus on the KC-45 proposal, which aimed to offer the A330 MRTT for the USAF’s KC-X program.
The two were initially successful, winning the bid, but a lawsuit filed by Boeing overturned the result. Boeing later ended up winning the KC-46 contract.
Agile Tanker
Embraer, for its part, has been looking for a new joint venture in the US since the initial partnership with L3 Harris was abandoned late last year due to differences in priority.
In 2022, they had presented the “Agile Tanker”, a proposal for a tanker aircraft based on the KC-390 with a rigid boom and secondary transport capacity.
Despite this, Embraer did not give up and recently carried out a grand tour of the KC-390 in the United States, passing through Nevada, Florida and Washington (DC).
The company knows that any contract with the Pentagon will require the aircraft to be produced on US soil and to have a large amount of local content.
Embraer has already stated that it will have an assembly line in the country if it wins a contract and that the KC-390 has a large portion of components manufactured in the US.
However, the manufacturer’s ambitions are hampered by the Air Force’s constantly changing plans, which are considering responding to a different theater of war brought about by the lessons of the war in Ukraine and the massive use of drones.
