Flight International – 11 June 2019

ightglobal.com 11-17 June 2019 | Flight International | 57

PARIS

Military transports

cruises at about 470kt true airspeed (870km/h)
and at an operational ceiling of 36,000ft.
Embraer says that its design makes the KC-
390 the most efficient on the market. “Be-
cause of the speed of the airplane and load
capacity, we can complete a mission with
fewer aircraft than the competition,” says
Walter Pinto Junior, vice-president KC-390
programme. “We fly faster so we can com-
plete the mission faster.”

FASTER DELIVERY
According to one Embraer case study, a fleet of
six KC-390s flying 1,350nm (2,500km) round
trips were able to deliver 500t and 1,000 pas-
sengers in less than two days. The company
says that is 40% faster than the C-130J.
The KC-390 also comes with the lowest life-
cycle cost in the medium airlift market, claims
Embraer. Much of that comes from systems and
know-how integrated into the tactical transport
from the Brazilian manufacturer’s commercial
airline business, such as its V2500-E5 engines
and the Pro Line Fusion avionics system from
Collins Aerospace.

For its part, Lockheed does not contest the

advantages of the KC-390’s speed and alti-

tude. Rather, the company argues those capa-

bilities are irrelevant. The company says that

most customers want a tactical aircraft that

can fly low, slow and heavy – characteristics

that it claims demand a turboprop.

“There are just the physics behind the mis-

sion that really drive you to a four-engine, tur-

boprop, straight-wing aircraft,” says Frese.

The C-130 first flew in 1954 and is the longest-

running production military aircraft in the

world. Frese argues that the old design is a

strength, not a weakness.

“People ask me, if you designed an aircraft

in 2019 that was a tactical airlifter, what

would it look like?” he says. “I tell them it

would look a lot like a C-130.”

Chief among those advantages is the use of

turboprop engines, he contends. “The advan-

tage of a turboprop on a C-130 is that it’s a

constant speed engine. You are just changing

the pitch of the propeller in order to get more

thrust. So that pitch could be changed very

rapidly.”

He says a turbofan – such as the KC-390’s

engines – cannot keep up due to the extra

time it takes to increase its revolutions per

minute. For instance, those capabilities are

needed for getting out of tight spaces while

air-dropping fire retardant or cargo, or quickly

fleeing enemy ground fire.

“You need thrust to climb out. You need

thrust to turn sharply and maintain speed,”

says Frese. “Any time you can do that more

quickly you are going to be more

manoeuvrable.”

Embraer counters that the KC-390 is more

than capable at low speeds, thanks to its nim-

ble fly-by-wire system and control surfaces,

such as its spoilers. “We can perform in-flight ❯❯

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027

6.26

5.47

4.93 4.8 4.87 4.97 4.69

4.28 3.99

3.62

$ billions

Source: Te al Group

Airbus A400M

13.65

Airbus CN235/C295

5.86

Embraer KC-390

5.33

Lockheed Martin C-130

15.4

Others

7.63

Military transports, world market value

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027

(^7472)
(^6866687065)
(^595956)
produced
Source: Te al Group
Military transports, units produced
Airbus A400M
78
Airbus CN235/C295
189
Embraer KC-390
82
Lockheed Martin C-130
204
Others
104
KC-390 has lowest life-cycle cost in the
medium airlift market, claims Embraer
Embraer
“You are getting a lot of
cargo box for the money.
It’s a lot of lift and a lot of box”
Richard Aboulafia
Vice-president of analysis, Teal Group