Since 2019, Poland has been conducting the Drop program, under which it wants to manufacture new medium military transport aircraft at its facilities to replace the existing C-130 Hercules, which were received from the United States in used condition.
Until now, the implementation of this program has hardly progressed, but now the Polish aircraft industry can get a new impetus thanks to an offer from Brazilian Embraer for KC-390 Millennium military transport aircraft.
Brazil offers Poland not only to buy these aircraft, but also to launch its own production, with the wide involvement of local contractors. At the same time, the volume of the order can be up to 10 aircraft, writes the Polish Defence24 portal.
It is noted that the Brazilian delegation has already voiced the corresponding proposal during its visit to Poland. As part of this project, Brazilian Embraer is ready to attract up to 18 Polish contractors and create 1350 new jobs that will be directly or tangentially involved in the production process.
It is also said that the Brazilian side is ready to organize training centers for pilots and technical personnel in Poland to service those KC-390 Millennium that have already been ordered by European countries (Portugal and the Netherlands – five aircraft each, Australia – four aircraft, Hungary and the Czech Republic – two aircraft each). And besides, Embraer proposes to “polonize” some onboard systems for the KC-390.
In their proposal, the Brazilians emphasize that the price of the new KC-390 is only $ 150 million; In the production of such aircraft, 42% of components are of European origin; And besides, if Poland acquires these transport trucks, it will first of all invest in the development of its economy.
The authors of Defence24 suggest that in this way the Brazilian Embraer hopes to “outcut” a potential offer for Poland from the Airbus concern, which expects to order up to 10 A400M aircraft for the Polish Air Force.
They also emphasize that the offer of cooperation with Brazil looks so broad that its implementation can give an impetus to the development of the entire Polish aircraft industry.
From News Hub, we add that data on a possible order from Poland for Brazilian KC-390 Millenium first appeared in the summer of 2024, but this data was presented in a somewhat strange manner – the Spaniards thought that Polish MiG-29s could be refueled in the air, which is what transport workers from Brazil are for.
