Embraer, L3Harris to develop KC-390 Agile Tanker for USAF

A conceptual rendering showing the KC-390 Agile Tanker in USAF service offloading fuel to an F-35 receiver aircraft. (Embraer, L3Harris)

Embraer and L3Harris are to equip the KC-390 Millennium with a refuelling boom and other equipment under plans to pitch the tanker-transport aircraft to the US Air Force (USAF).

The two companies announced the collaboration to develop the KC-390 Agile Tanker, as the concept is named, on 19 September.

“US Air Force strategic planners have stated Agile Combat Employment (ACE) will require refuelling platforms optimised to support a disaggregated approach to air dominance in contested logistics environments,” Christopher E Kubasik, chair and CEO of L3Harris, was quoted as saying. Embraer president and CEO, Francisco Gomes Neto, added, “We continue seeking meaningful and strategic partnerships that generate new developments and expand the KC-390 Millennium's market reach.”

As noted in the announcement, enhancements to the baseline KC-390 that comes equipped with hose-and-drogue aerial refuelling equipment include the addition of advanced boom operations and mission systems, and resilient communications supporting Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) requirements. “Aircraft enhancements will complement the tanker's existing capabilities, which already include the ability to refuel aircraft with a variable speed drogue, receive fuel, and to take off and land from short and improvised runways, allowing for greater mission area coverage,” the two companies said in a joint communiqué.

For their bid to the USAF, Embraer and L3Harris said the KC-390 would be assembled at an unspecified location in the US, ahead of mission customisation at the latter's aircraft modification centre in Waco, Texas.