Brazilian Air Force Embraer KC-390 Millenium Airlifter to Rescue Citizens Fleeing Ukraine

By presidential decision Brazil will send to Warsaw, Poland a Brazilian Air Force (Força Aérea Brasileira, FAB) Embraer KC-390 Millenium airlifter to repatriate Brazilians who left Ukraine in recent days, fleeing the consequences of the Russian military invasion. An estimated 500 Brazilians were resident in Ukraine prior to Putin’s invasion. The mission is scheduled to commence on 7 March, with take-off from Brasilia airport carrying 11.5t of humanitarian aid materiel. The KC-390 will make stops in Recife, in the Cape Verde Islands, and Lisbon, returning to Brazil on 10 March with an as-yet-unreported number of evacuees on board. The military airlifter is scheduled to return to Brazil next Thursday.

Brazil has made several efforts to support Brazilians in the region and in Ukraine and has supported the departure of over 100 individuals seeking refuge in Poland and Romania. Two service stations have been opened in Lviv, near the Polish border, and in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. The Brazilian Embassy in Romania has set up an outpost in the city of Siret, to reinforce the reception of Brazilians leaving the neighboring country. More than 130 Brazilians have entered Romanian territory. If necessary, another FAB aircraft is ready to participate in the rescue mission. Both planes are the same model and had been used in other international humanitarian missions, such as the transport of Brazilian donations to the victims of the explosion in Beirut and Haiti.

The Embraer C-390 Millennium is a medium-size, twin-engine, jet-powered military transport aircraft produced by the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer. With a load capacity of 26 tonnes (29 tons), the aircraft can be configured to perform various conventional operations such as troop, VIP and cargo transportation, and more specialised logistical operations such as aerial refuelling as a tanker. It is the heaviest aircraft the company has made to date. The first production aircraft was delivered to the Brazilian Air Force on 4 September 2019.[9] On 18 November 2019 during the Dubai Airshow, Embraer announced the aircraft’s new name for the global market, C-390 Millennium.

Embraer built the C-390 around the 18.5 m (61 ft) long, 3.45 m (11.3 ft) wide and 2.95 m (9 ft 8 in) high hold with a rear ramp. The aircraft can carry 26 t (57,000 lb): two fully tracked M113 armored personnel carriers, one Boxer or Brazilian VBTP-MR Guarani wheeled armored vehicle, a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter, 74 litters with life-support equipment, up to 80 soldiers or 66 paratroopers with full gear, and loads of up to 42,000 lb (19 t) can be air dropped. The C-390 can refuel in flight other aircraft through two wing-mounted probe and drogue pods from Cobham plc delivering up to 1,500 L (400 US gal) per minute from a 35 t (77,000 lb) total fuel capacity, between 120 to 300 kn (220 to 560 km/h) and from 2,000 to 32,000 ft (610 to 9,750 m).