The Embraer KC-390 prototype visited the Czech Republic, Malta, Egypt and the UAE following its international debut appearance at the Farnborough airshow last month. Czech aerospace company Aero Vodochody is a risk-sharing partner in the KC-390, but the other countries are evidently considered to be additional potential customers. Although Embraer has identified five countries that could order a combined 32 aircraft, the order for 28 from the Brazilian air force remains the only firm commitment for the airlifter to date.

Aero Vodochody noted that its participation in the KC-390 is financed by the Czech export bank. The company is responsible for the design and manufacture of the rear fuselage and cargo ramp, the wing leading edge and all the cabin doors. Aero Vodochody has 150 employees working on the KC-390, and the rear fuselage is the largest aerostructure ever made in the Czech Republic, the company said.

Visitors to the KC-390 at Farnborough, including this AIN editor, were told that the aircraft’s cargo ramp is particularly long for ease of level loading. Two of the seven standard military 463L pallets that the KC-390 can carry are accommodated on the ramp. Embraer officials also noted the aircraft’s ability to seat 36 troops along the cabin sides, while still carrying six pallets in a lengthwise configuration. They said that the floor is Embraer’s own design, featuring a large number of tie-down rings and requiring no tools for reconfiguring or pallet handling. Officials toutied the quick convertability of the cabin, from airlifter to medical evacuation, search and rescue, or fire suppression.  

Embraer said that the prototype flew more than 48 hours during the KC-390’s first international mission, bringing the total hours logged by it and the second prototype to more than 400. Jackson Schneider, president and CEO of Embraer Defense and Security, said that more than 20 international delegations visited the aircraft at Farnborough.

The flight-test campaign will now resume, including tests of the aircraft’s role as an air tanker. Dry contacts will be made soon, starting with fixed-wing aircraft. Officials said that certification will be to FAA as well as military standards, via Brazil’s airworthiness authority ANAC, which follows the American standard. The KC-390’s off-the-shelf content, such as the IAE V2500 turbofans and the Rockwell Collins ProLine Fusion avionics, will aid that process.