Embraer admitted that it is in negotiations to have a strategic partner in the KC-390 Millennium program. In a presentation to press representatives this week, the planemaker showed an image of the transport aircraft with the caption “undisclosed”, in which it cited partnerships in its main products.
“We think of strategic partnerships that open markets for us,” said Jackson Schneider, CEO of Embraer Defense and Security, according to Aviacionline.
Schneider cited India as a potential customer for the airlifter as well as revealing that the KC-390 is one of the finalists in a bid by the Royal Netherlands Air Force to replace four C-130Hs.
Embraer, which is a partner of Fokker Techniek and Fokker Services, offered final assembly of the aircraft in the Netherlands as part of its proposal.
The Brazilian manufacturer started a world tour with the KC-390, together with members of the Brazilian government, in order to attract new orders for the aircraft.
The initiative comes amid negotiations between the Brazilian Air Force and Embraer to reduce the order of 22 KC-390s to just 15 planes – at the beginning of the year, the service had already cut six aircraft from the initial agreement, which provided for 28 cargo jets .
Embraer even established a partnership with Boeing to offer the KC-390 in global markets, but the end of the joint venture in the commercial aviation division in 2020 ended the relationship between the two companies.
