Dutch and Austrian governments collaborate on Embraer C-390 acquisition at Farnborough

The Dutch and Austrian Ministries of Defense have signed contracts to acquire nine Embraer C-390 Millennium aircraft at the Farnborough International Airshow 2024.

The combined acquisition will allow the countries to split the purchase. Five C-390s will be for the use of the Royal Netherlands Air Force and four for the Austrian Air Force.

The joint procurement also means the two air forces will be able to effectively collaborate on training and logistics ahead of any real-world deployment.

Since its operational launch in 2015, the C-390 Millennium has built a strong reputation as a reliable ‘fetch-and-carry’ aircraft for logistics, search and rescue, firefighting and humanitarian relief. It has built that reputation on its payload capacity of 26 tons (26.4 metric tonnes) and its top speed of 470 knots (540 miles per hour, 869 km per hour), both of which exceed other leading performers in its class.

Those statistics have put the C-390 in the heat of the action, alleviating international disasters over the decade since its first deployment. In its home nation of Brazil, the C-390 was crucial during the Coronavirus pandemic, relieving chronic shortages of medical equipment in the struggling city of Manaus. The C-390 also saw humanitarian action during the 2020 explosion in Beirut and in the wake of the Haiti earthquake of 2021.

Both Austria and the Netherlands hope the joint purchase will help open up their ability to rapidly deploy personnel, deliver relief, and if necessary evacuate areas, in line with their similarly equipped NATO allies.

“This is a good example of collaboration in Europe between countries,” said Vice-Admiral Jan Willem Hartman, national armaments director of the Netherlands. “We appreciate the contribution of Embraer and look forward to a successful cooperation.”

With both climate change and geopolitical instability making day-to-day life more uncertain in recent years, the Dutch and Austrian air forces have chosen to insure themselves not against immediate threat, but against the future unknown. Having the freedom to train with their C-390s before any necessary future deployment can only make their eventual use more efficient and potentially save lives.

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