Colombia signs $366 million deal for two Embraer KC-390 Millennium aircraft to support future Gripen fleet
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On August 4, 2026, the Colombian Air Force signed a $366.4 million contract with Brazil’s Embraer for two KC-390 Millennium multi-mission transport aircraft, with deliveries scheduled between 2029 and 2030. The acquisition addresses Colombia’s Air and Space Development Strategy 2042 to replace aging Lockheed C-130 Hercules airlifters and establish air-to-air refueling support for the country’s newly acquired fleet of 17 JAS 39 Gripen E/F fighters. Operating from Bogotá’s Comando Aéreo de Transporte Militar, the aircraft will provide heavy tactical transport, medical evacuation, and aerial refueling across high-altitude and remote operational environments.
The $366.4 million procurement allocates $319.9 million for two KC-390 aircraft and $46.5 million for mission equipment, satellite communications, navigation systems, simulator training, and 24 months of integrated logistics support. Under a fixed-price contract structure spanning four fiscal years, Colombia will make $182.8 million in advance payments during 2027 and 2028 prior to taking delivery of its first tanker-configured aircraft in 2029 and a second transport-configured unit in 2030.
Related topic: Colombian Air Force reportedly eyes Embraer C-390 acquisition from Brazil over C-130 and A400M
The two KC-390s will progressively take over missions now performed by Colombia’s C-130B/H Hercules fleet, with the first KC-390 receiving a complete probe-and-drogue tanker fit with two underwing hose-and-drogue pods. (Picture source: Embraer)
On August 4, 2026, Colombia signed a $366 million contract with Brazil’s Embraer for two KC-390 Millennium aircraft, which will be delivered to the Fuerza Aeroespacial Colombiana, or FAC, between 2029 and 2030. The agreement includes the two aircraft, mission equipment, secure communications, navigation systems, ground support equipment, initial spare parts, maintenance tools, simulator instruction, pilot conversion, technician training, mission crew qualification, 24 months of integrated logistics support, and an industrial offset package. The first aircraft must be delivered before October 30, 2029, and the second before November 30, 2030, with both expected to operate from the Comando Aéreo de Transporte Militar in Bogotá.
The purchase follows the Air and Space Development Strategy 2042 adopted in 2019, under which Colombia began planning the renewal of the heavy transport capacity currently centered on ageing C-130B/H Hercules aircraft. It is also synchronized with the acquisition of 17 Gripen E/F fighters and the construction of supporting infrastructure, creating a common modernization timetable for air mobility, aerial refueling, combat aviation, training, logistics, and basing. Colombia becomes the first KC-390 customer in Latin America outside Brazil and the 13th country to select the aircraft. In the contract, valued at $366,430,371, the two KC-390s account for $319,915,860, leaving $46,514,511 for tanker equipment, mission systems, communications, navigation equipment, training, logistics, tools, ground support items, and associated services.
This means 87.3% of the program value is tied directly to aircraft procurement and 12.7% to the equipment and support required for entry into service. Colombia will make $182,872,498 in advance payments during fiscal years 2027 and 2028, equal to 49.9% of the total program value, with the balance paid against production, equipment integration, acceptance, and delivery milestones. The financial structure spans four fiscal years and uses fixed and firm prices, preventing Embraer from increasing the agreed value due to inflation, currency-driven industrial costs, or changes in market prices during production. The 24-month logistics package is significant because the FAC will have to establish new maintenance cycles, spare parts demand forecasts, engine support arrangements, flight control inspection procedures, and tanker system servicing while simultaneously training crews and preparing CATAM facilities.
The first aircraft will be transferred from Embraer’s Gavião Peixoto production site in Brazil to Bogotá, while the second will follow 13 months later under the maximum contractual schedule. The first Colombian KC-390 will be delivered with the complete aerial refueling configuration, while the second will initially be centered on transport and other multi-mission tasks as a classic C-390. The tanker fit includes two underwing hose-and-drogue pods, an additional internal fuel tank, electro-optical monitoring equipment, and cameras used to observe hose extension, receiver approach, contact stability, separation, and fuel transfer. The KC-390 can also receive fuel in flight, allowing the aircraft to take fuel from another probe-and-drogue tanker and redistribute it to fighters farther forward.
Both Colombian aircraft will receive satellite communications, secure military radios, advanced navigation systems, and tactical mission equipment, while the first aircraft will also carry a defensive aids and countermeasures package. The medical evacuation configuration provides space for 74 NATO-standard stretchers using stacked installation kits, compared with a troop configuration of up to 80 passengers or 64 fully equipped paratroopers. These aircraft’s 169 m³ cargo compartment can be configured for personnel, patients, freight, or refueling support, but it cannot perform all of those tasks at maximum capacity on the same sortie. The two-aircraft fleet will therefore require centralized scheduling because tanker readiness, training sorties, cargo movements, maintenance, and humanitarian missions will compete for the same limited number of airframes.
The KC-390 is powered by two International Aero Engines V2500-E5 turbofans producing 31,400 lbf of thrust each, for a combined installed thrust of 62,800 lbf. Maximum takeoff weight is 87,000 kg, maximum payload is 26,000 kg, and the distributed payload limit is 23,000 kg, meaning that payload planning depends not only on total mass but also on floor loading, axle pressure, cargo dimensions, center of gravity, fuel quantity, and runway condition. The cargo compartment provides 169 m³ of usable volume and measures 18.5 m when the main floor and rear ramp are combined, with a width of 3.45 m and a height of 2.95 m. These dimensions permit the carriage of standard military pallets, light and medium vehicles, engineering equipment, troops, paratroopers, medical installations, and disaster-relief cargo, but unusually tall, wide, or heavy vehicles may remain incompatible.
The aircraft cruises at 470 knots, or Mach 0.80, and operates up to 36,000 ft, giving it a standard ferry range of 3,370 nautical miles, which increases to 4,570 nautical miles with auxiliary internal tanks, although installing extra fuel reduces the cargo volume and weight available for other loads. On a 500-nautical-mile mission with 23 tonnes of cargo, the KC-390 requires a takeoff distance of 1,524 m under the reference conditions, but operational runway requirements will increase with altitude, temperature, wet surfaces, obstacles, and reduced pavement strength. Those performance variables are directly relevant in Colombia because CATAM and El Dorado International Airport are located at 2,548 m, or 8,360 ft, above sea level.
At that elevation, reduced air density lowers wing lift and engine thrust while increasing takeoff speed and runway requirement, particularly during warmer daytime conditions or when the aircraft carries both cargo and mission fuel. The V2500-E5 engines give the KC-390 a higher thrust margin than older turboprop transports, but they do not eliminate the need to trade payload against fuel and runway length. A sortie departing Bogotá with 23 tonnes of cargo and sufficient fuel for a long-range mission may therefore require a different load plan from an equivalent sortie departing a coastal airfield. The aircraft will also support operations across the Andes, Amazon basin, Orinoquía, Pacific region, Caribbean coast, and border zones where road access is slow, and airfields can be short, narrow, unpaved, or limited in pavement strength.
Missions are expected to include troop movement, vehicle transport, palletized cargo, engineering equipment, paratroop insertion, medical evacuation, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and airdrop operations when landing is not possible. The ability to operate from temporary, semi-prepared, and unpaved runways will expand the number of usable locations, but surface bearing capacity, drainage, loose debris, vegetation, weather, and support equipment availability will determine whether the aircraft can use a particular strip with a meaningful payload. Nevertheless, its 470-knot cruise speed will reduce transit time between Bogotá and remote bases such as Leticia, Larandia, and Tres Esquinas, improving response time during floods, landslides, border emergencies, casualty evacuation, and rapid military deployments. The aerial refueling role is structured primarily around Colombia’s 17 Gripen E/F fighters.
The Gripen uses a refueling probe compatible with the KC-390’s hose-and-drogue system, eliminating the need for the boom configuration required by aircraft such as the F-15, F-16, or B-52. For Colombian air defense missions, the tanker can extend fighter patrol duration, increase the distance at which an interception can be sustained, reduce the need to land after a prolonged identification mission, and provide additional recovery options when weather or runway closures prevent a return to the planned base. It can also support longer ferry flights, night-refueling training, formation procedures, fuel-emergency recovery, and coordinated missions involving several fighters.
The KC-390 carries roughly 35,000 kg of internal fuel in its standard fuel system, but the amount available for transfer depends on its own route, reserve requirements, altitude, loiter time, weather, receiver demand, and whether cargo is also carried. Fuel and payload cannot both be maximized, so a tanker sortie optimized to support several Gripens will carry less cargo than a transport sortie, while a heavily loaded transport mission will have less fuel available for transfer. The system’s transfer rate is close to 400 gallons per minute per refueling arrangement, making it suitable for fighters and other probe-equipped receivers but not equivalent to the higher-volume boom transfer used for large aircraft.
The contract also extends a relationship of more than 35 years with Embraer, beginning with the T-27 Tucano and continuing with the A-29 Super Tucano, and the KC-390 will progressively assume missions now assigned to Colombia’s C-130B/H Hercules aircraft. However, if one KC-390 is committed to tanker alert or Gripen training and the second enters scheduled maintenance, no aircraft remains available for urgent heavy transport, MEDEVAC, or disaster response. Conversely, using the tanker-configured aircraft for cargo or humanitarian work may leave the Gripen fleet without aerial refueling until that mission ends and the aircraft is reconfigured.
The initial order therefore creates a new capability but does not establish a self-sustaining fleet with reserve aircraft for maintenance, training, and operational surges. The acquisition forms part of a wider Colombian effort that includes the 17 Gripen E/F fighters, helicopter procurement, light and medium transports, and airbase modernization, with the government previously identifying more than 50 additional mobility aircraft across different services and categories. Additionally, Colombia will also join Brazil, Greece, Portugal, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, Slovakia, and Lithuania in the KC-390 customer group.
Written by Jérôme Brahy
Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.
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On August 4, 2026, the Colombian Air Force signed a $366.4 million contract with Brazil’s Embraer for two KC-390 Millennium multi-mission transport aircraft, with deliveries scheduled between 2029 and 2030. The acquisition addresses Colombia’s Air and Space Development Strategy 2042 to replace aging Lockheed C-130 Hercules airlifters and establish air-to-air refueling support for the country’s newly acquired fleet of 17 JAS 39 Gripen E/F fighters. Operating from Bogotá’s Comando Aéreo de Transporte Militar, the aircraft will provide heavy tactical transport, medical evacuation, and aerial refueling across high-altitude and remote operational environments.
The $366.4 million procurement allocates $319.9 million for two KC-390 aircraft and $46.5 million for mission equipment, satellite communications, navigation systems, simulator training, and 24 months of integrated logistics support. Under a fixed-price contract structure spanning four fiscal years, Colombia will make $182.8 million in advance payments during 2027 and 2028 prior to taking delivery of its first tanker-configured aircraft in 2029 and a second transport-configured unit in 2030.
Related topic: Colombian Air Force reportedly eyes Embraer C-390 acquisition from Brazil over C-130 and A400M
The two KC-390s will progressively take over missions now performed by Colombia’s C-130B/H Hercules fleet, with the first KC-390 receiving a complete probe-and-drogue tanker fit with two underwing hose-and-drogue pods. (Picture source: Embraer)
On August 4, 2026, Colombia signed a $366 million contract with Brazil’s Embraer for two KC-390 Millennium aircraft, which will be delivered to the Fuerza Aeroespacial Colombiana, or FAC, between 2029 and 2030. The agreement includes the two aircraft, mission equipment, secure communications, navigation systems, ground support equipment, initial spare parts, maintenance tools, simulator instruction, pilot conversion, technician training, mission crew qualification, 24 months of integrated logistics support, and an industrial offset package. The first aircraft must be delivered before October 30, 2029, and the second before November 30, 2030, with both expected to operate from the Comando Aéreo de Transporte Militar in Bogotá.
The purchase follows the Air and Space Development Strategy 2042 adopted in 2019, under which Colombia began planning the renewal of the heavy transport capacity currently centered on ageing C-130B/H Hercules aircraft. It is also synchronized with the acquisition of 17 Gripen E/F fighters and the construction of supporting infrastructure, creating a common modernization timetable for air mobility, aerial refueling, combat aviation, training, logistics, and basing. Colombia becomes the first KC-390 customer in Latin America outside Brazil and the 13th country to select the aircraft. In the contract, valued at $366,430,371, the two KC-390s account for $319,915,860, leaving $46,514,511 for tanker equipment, mission systems, communications, navigation equipment, training, logistics, tools, ground support items, and associated services.
This means 87.3% of the program value is tied directly to aircraft procurement and 12.7% to the equipment and support required for entry into service. Colombia will make $182,872,498 in advance payments during fiscal years 2027 and 2028, equal to 49.9% of the total program value, with the balance paid against production, equipment integration, acceptance, and delivery milestones. The financial structure spans four fiscal years and uses fixed and firm prices, preventing Embraer from increasing the agreed value due to inflation, currency-driven industrial costs, or changes in market prices during production. The 24-month logistics package is significant because the FAC will have to establish new maintenance cycles, spare parts demand forecasts, engine support arrangements, flight control inspection procedures, and tanker system servicing while simultaneously training crews and preparing CATAM facilities.
The first aircraft will be transferred from Embraer’s Gavião Peixoto production site in Brazil to Bogotá, while the second will follow 13 months later under the maximum contractual schedule. The first Colombian KC-390 will be delivered with the complete aerial refueling configuration, while the second will initially be centered on transport and other multi-mission tasks as a classic C-390. The tanker fit includes two underwing hose-and-drogue pods, an additional internal fuel tank, electro-optical monitoring equipment, and cameras used to observe hose extension, receiver approach, contact stability, separation, and fuel transfer. The KC-390 can also receive fuel in flight, allowing the aircraft to take fuel from another probe-and-drogue tanker and redistribute it to fighters farther forward.
Both Colombian aircraft will receive satellite communications, secure military radios, advanced navigation systems, and tactical mission equipment, while the first aircraft will also carry a defensive aids and countermeasures package. The medical evacuation configuration provides space for 74 NATO-standard stretchers using stacked installation kits, compared with a troop configuration of up to 80 passengers or 64 fully equipped paratroopers. These aircraft’s 169 m³ cargo compartment can be configured for personnel, patients, freight, or refueling support, but it cannot perform all of those tasks at maximum capacity on the same sortie. The two-aircraft fleet will therefore require centralized scheduling because tanker readiness, training sorties, cargo movements, maintenance, and humanitarian missions will compete for the same limited number of airframes.
The KC-390 is powered by two International Aero Engines V2500-E5 turbofans producing 31,400 lbf of thrust each, for a combined installed thrust of 62,800 lbf. Maximum takeoff weight is 87,000 kg, maximum payload is 26,000 kg, and the distributed payload limit is 23,000 kg, meaning that payload planning depends not only on total mass but also on floor loading, axle pressure, cargo dimensions, center of gravity, fuel quantity, and runway condition. The cargo compartment provides 169 m³ of usable volume and measures 18.5 m when the main floor and rear ramp are combined, with a width of 3.45 m and a height of 2.95 m. These dimensions permit the carriage of standard military pallets, light and medium vehicles, engineering equipment, troops, paratroopers, medical installations, and disaster-relief cargo, but unusually tall, wide, or heavy vehicles may remain incompatible.
The aircraft cruises at 470 knots, or Mach 0.80, and operates up to 36,000 ft, giving it a standard ferry range of 3,370 nautical miles, which increases to 4,570 nautical miles with auxiliary internal tanks, although installing extra fuel reduces the cargo volume and weight available for other loads. On a 500-nautical-mile mission with 23 tonnes of cargo, the KC-390 requires a takeoff distance of 1,524 m under the reference conditions, but operational runway requirements will increase with altitude, temperature, wet surfaces, obstacles, and reduced pavement strength. Those performance variables are directly relevant in Colombia because CATAM and El Dorado International Airport are located at 2,548 m, or 8,360 ft, above sea level.
At that elevation, reduced air density lowers wing lift and engine thrust while increasing takeoff speed and runway requirement, particularly during warmer daytime conditions or when the aircraft carries both cargo and mission fuel. The V2500-E5 engines give the KC-390 a higher thrust margin than older turboprop transports, but they do not eliminate the need to trade payload against fuel and runway length. A sortie departing Bogotá with 23 tonnes of cargo and sufficient fuel for a long-range mission may therefore require a different load plan from an equivalent sortie departing a coastal airfield. The aircraft will also support operations across the Andes, Amazon basin, Orinoquía, Pacific region, Caribbean coast, and border zones where road access is slow, and airfields can be short, narrow, unpaved, or limited in pavement strength.
Missions are expected to include troop movement, vehicle transport, palletized cargo, engineering equipment, paratroop insertion, medical evacuation, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and airdrop operations when landing is not possible. The ability to operate from temporary, semi-prepared, and unpaved runways will expand the number of usable locations, but surface bearing capacity, drainage, loose debris, vegetation, weather, and support equipment availability will determine whether the aircraft can use a particular strip with a meaningful payload. Nevertheless, its 470-knot cruise speed will reduce transit time between Bogotá and remote bases such as Leticia, Larandia, and Tres Esquinas, improving response time during floods, landslides, border emergencies, casualty evacuation, and rapid military deployments. The aerial refueling role is structured primarily around Colombia’s 17 Gripen E/F fighters.
The Gripen uses a refueling probe compatible with the KC-390’s hose-and-drogue system, eliminating the need for the boom configuration required by aircraft such as the F-15, F-16, or B-52. For Colombian air defense missions, the tanker can extend fighter patrol duration, increase the distance at which an interception can be sustained, reduce the need to land after a prolonged identification mission, and provide additional recovery options when weather or runway closures prevent a return to the planned base. It can also support longer ferry flights, night-refueling training, formation procedures, fuel-emergency recovery, and coordinated missions involving several fighters.
The KC-390 carries roughly 35,000 kg of internal fuel in its standard fuel system, but the amount available for transfer depends on its own route, reserve requirements, altitude, loiter time, weather, receiver demand, and whether cargo is also carried. Fuel and payload cannot both be maximized, so a tanker sortie optimized to support several Gripens will carry less cargo than a transport sortie, while a heavily loaded transport mission will have less fuel available for transfer. The system’s transfer rate is close to 400 gallons per minute per refueling arrangement, making it suitable for fighters and other probe-equipped receivers but not equivalent to the higher-volume boom transfer used for large aircraft.
The contract also extends a relationship of more than 35 years with Embraer, beginning with the T-27 Tucano and continuing with the A-29 Super Tucano, and the KC-390 will progressively assume missions now assigned to Colombia’s C-130B/H Hercules aircraft. However, if one KC-390 is committed to tanker alert or Gripen training and the second enters scheduled maintenance, no aircraft remains available for urgent heavy transport, MEDEVAC, or disaster response. Conversely, using the tanker-configured aircraft for cargo or humanitarian work may leave the Gripen fleet without aerial refueling until that mission ends and the aircraft is reconfigured.
The initial order therefore creates a new capability but does not establish a self-sustaining fleet with reserve aircraft for maintenance, training, and operational surges. The acquisition forms part of a wider Colombian effort that includes the 17 Gripen E/F fighters, helicopter procurement, light and medium transports, and airbase modernization, with the government previously identifying more than 50 additional mobility aircraft across different services and categories. Additionally, Colombia will also join Brazil, Greece, Portugal, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, Slovakia, and Lithuania in the KC-390 customer group.
Written by Jérôme Brahy
Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.
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• Land Defense News
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