The Swedish Air Force would be inclined to acquire only three C-390 Millennium airlifters from Embraer, revealed the Brazilian Defense Minister.
In an interview with Reuters, José Múcio stated that the negotiations are “going well and without problems”, but did not provide any forecast about the decision.
The C-390 is being competed with by the C-130J Super Hercules turboprop from Lockheed Martin.
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The Swedish and Brazilian governments have been talking for several months about a “joint acquisition” in which the Brazilian Air Force would order a second batch of Saab Gripen fighters while its counterpart would replace its six old C-130 Hercules with the Embraer jet.
However, there have been no new developments in the talks for some time. In August, the head of the Swedish Air Force, Major General Jonas Wikman, said that both the C-390 and the C-130J meet the requirements and that the decision will be “political”.
Sweden had announced that it would acquire second-hand C-130J aircraft from Italy in mid-2022, but in early 2023 it changed its mind and reopened the plan to replace its old Hercules with new aircraft.
The number of aircraft suggested by Mucio, however, covers only half of Sweden’s current Hercules fleet.
The Air Force has five C-130Hs that are around 43 years old in service, as well as an even older KC-130 tanker that is 55 years old.
Against Lockheed Martin’s advantage of offering an aircraft already known to the Swedish armed forces, Embraer is betting on integration with other NATO members that have chosen the C-390, such as the Netherlands, Portugal, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
