By Gabriel Araujo
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – The defense and security unit of Brazil’s Embraer SA is aiming for greater presence abroad in 2023, focusing on boosting sales of its transportation aircraft the C-390 Millennium, the head of the division, Bosco da Costa Junior, said.
The Brazilian planemaker showcased the C-390 at an event in India earlier this month, and sees it ideally suited for the country as well as countries in Europe and the Middle East, said Costa Junior, tapped to lead the division in late 2022, in an interview with Reuters on Thursday.
The Dutch government last year selected five C-390 aircraft to replace its current fleet of Lockheed Martin’s C-130 Hercules, joining Brazil, Portugal and Hungary to have the plane among its ranks.
Embraer’s goal is to expand that list and comes after Brazil and the firm in 2022 agreed to cut the Brazilian air force’s orders for the C-390 to 19 from 22, settling a longstanding dispute between the parties.
“In this new position I hope to bring a lot of energy to materialize the internationalization of Embraer Defense, which is something we’ve been chasing,” said Costa Junior.
Embraer has been courting India after the nation filed a request for information to procure medium transport aircraft, a segment in which the C-390 competes directly with Lockheed’s C-130.
“India is one of the countries where we see the C-390 potentially playing an excellent role,” Costa Junior said, noting that Embraer was providing India with information but cautioning that the process was still in the early stages.
This year Embraer presented the C-390 at Bengaluru’s AeroIndia, following tours in 2022 to England, the United Arab Emirates and the Czech Republic. South Korea is also seen as a potential buyer after Embraer signed a series of memorandums of understanding to support the aerospace industry there.
“The C-390’s momentum in Europe as a whole, in Middle East and Asia is super positive,” Costa Junior said.
Buyers in Europe have all been NATO members, and Embraer previously said Russia’s war in Ukraine could be an opportunity for products like the C-390 and light attack aircraft SuperTucano. Embraer has said it expects defense margins to improve starting this year.
“The SuperTucano is also experiencing a very positive market moment,” Costa Junior said. “Countries heading towards fifth generation fighters, with very costly flight hours, are looking at the SuperTucano as a solution for simpler missions.”
Embraer will report fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 results on March 10. In the first nine months of last year, Defense & Security accounted for roughly 12% of total group revenue, down from 16.5% a year earlier as revenues dropped 40% in the period.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Anthony Esposito and Leslie Adler)
