Greece Embraer KC-390 Deal: First Tankers for Air Force

Greece has signed an agreement with Portugal for three Embraer KC-390 Millennium transport aircraft, with options for three more, in a deal which will give the Hellenic Air Force both its first jet-powered airlifters and its first aerial refuelling capability. The intergovernmental agreement was signed in Athens on November 2 in the presence of Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias and his Portuguese counterpart Nuno Melo, with Embraer stating that the first aircraft will be delivered in 2027. The package for the first three aircraft and their mission equipment has been valued at around €590 million. The purchase marks a significant shift for an air force which has flown turboprop Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules airlifters for decades and has never been able to refuel its fighters in the air.

The aircraft are being acquired through a government-to-government framework administered by Portugal, with the Greek airframes reportedly drawn from production options Lisbon had secured with Embraer and the Portuguese Air Force set to help train Greek crews. Funding was approved by a Greek parliamentary committee in June, following a visit by Dendias to Portugal on May 7, while a Portuguese KC-390 took part in the October 28 flypast over Thessaloniki only days before the signing. Dendias stated: “This is the first time in our history that we will acquire a jet-powered transport aircraft.” Athens had reportedly explored the purchase of Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, two of which would have been converted into tankers, before the Brazilian design was favoured.

The refuelling role is by a considerable margin the most consequential part of the purchase for Greece. The KC-390 refuels other aircraft through hose and drogue pods mounted under its wings, which allows it to serve the Hellenic Air Force’s Dassault Rafale and Mirage 2000-5 fighters from the outset, while Dendias stated that the F-16s would follow “one year from now”. It remains uncertain how that will be achieved, with the F-16 having been designed to receive fuel from a flying boom which the KC-390 does not carry. Dendias went further still, stating that the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 could have been prevented had Greece possessed such aircraft, with more than 900 kilometres separating Athens from Nicosia.

The KC-390 can carry up to 26 tonnes of cargo and cruise at up to 470 knots, making it considerably faster than any turboprop C-130 in Greek service. Its payload also exceeds the roughly 19 tonnes quoted for the stretched C-130J-30, with the two types having been weighed against each other in competitions as far afield as India. Greece joins a growing group of European customers which includes Portugal, the Netherlands, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic and Sweden, alongside the launch customer Brazil as well as South Korea. Bosco da Costa Junior, president and chief executive of Embraer Defense & Security, stated that the Greek order solidified the aircraft’s position as “a preferred solution for military airlift among NATO allies”.

Greece’s 24 Rafale fighters, ordered from France in 2021 and 2022, are expected to be the first beneficiaries of the new capability, with the French fighter’s endurance over the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean set to be extended significantly. The KC-390s will replace the C-130H aircraft flown by the 356 Tactical Transport Squadron from Elefsina Air Base near Athens, while the Hellenic Air Force will retain its eight Leonardo C-27J Spartan tactical transports, which are expected to be upgraded to extend their service lives.