When the Latin American Aviation and Defence show kicks off this week in Rio de Janeiro, it will be 10 years since Brazilian aerospace champion Embraer announced, at LAAD, its interest in entering the tactical airlifter market. That got the ball rolling on what is now the KC-390 programme. Two years later, again at LAAD, Embraer signed the development contract with Brazilian air force, and in 2011 announced KC-390 risk sharing partner companies, notes programme vice president Paulo Gastão Silva.
Ultimately, 2016 was a busy year for the programme and this year’s LAAD marks further momentum. Last year saw the second prototype’s first fight in April, just as the first KC-390 prototype had successfully fully expanded its flight envelope. Tests to freeze the aerodynamic configuration tests followed in June-July at the Campo Grande air base, away from Embraer’s KC-390 final assembly plant at Gavião Peixoto. Pallets were air dropped and static line and free-fall parachute jumps made at various speeds and altitudes.
Hurdles cleared
Silva said these tests fully confirmed that there were no negative aerodynamic interaction between the aircraft and air launched cargo or paratroops. Results verified digital tests and simulations, so there will be no need for further modification; the programme can move along, to schedule, with the remaining certification tests.
Cabin ergonomics were also evaluated. “This was very relevant,” added Silva, “as eventual required alterations carried the potential to invalidate earlier tests further delaying the certification cycle.” The formal certification process began with pilots and technicians from both Brazil’s national aviation authority, ANAC, and its air force Industrial Development and Cooperation Institute flying the KC-390.
So far, the two prototypes have amassed a combined totoal of 900h in the air, with each flying 40-50h per month.
The highlight of the 2016 campaign was the surprise Farnborough air show debut of the KC-390 in late July. There Silva received “a client reaction that was much better than the company expected. More than 20 international delegations toured the plane generating a lot of discussion, real quality interaction with genuine interest.”
This first European trip extended to Portugal, where the tanker transport was introduced to Embraer’s Portuguese workforce, a team deeply involved in its design. On the return flight, the aircraft paid Czech programme partner Aero Vodochody a visit before being exhibited to potential clients in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Silva adds that Embraer also wants to send a KC-390 to Córdoba in Argentina to show it to industrial partner FAdeA’s workforce, but a date has yet to be agreed.
Despite the sweeping political change that hit Argentina in December 2015 there was no impact on the production of KC-390 components being shipped to Brazil.
On 10 March one of the prototypes was flew to Punta Arenas in Chile for crosswind landing and take-off tests. Embraer will bring the KC-390 back to Europe for the 2017 Paris air show and more sales visits.
Cold weather testing will be done in the cold soaking laboratory at Eglin AFB in the USA. Actual operations in natural ice conditions will follow at an as-yet undisclosed location.
The Gavião Peixoto line has started the structural assembly of the first two production standard KC-390s (construction numbers 003 and 004), which will go to the Brazilian air force. The first is to be delivered to a full operational transport unit in the first half of 2018 with the second following in the second half. Since they will not carry test equipment like the first two prototypes it will fall upon the air force to complete the last certification tests. Initial operational capability of the type focusing exclusively on the basic cargo functions is expected for the second half of 2018 with final operational configuration, including all military specifications, being achieved one year later.
GRIPEN NG: THE MAKING OF A ‘TROPICAL SWEDE’
Separately, the Brazilian air force’s search for its next generation supersonic fighter has been a very complicated affair, with multiple starts and stops, as well as charges of corporate lobbying and political pressure from all sides. Indeed, the competition ran for 22 years before the 2013 selection of the Saab Gripen NG.
In May 2016 Saab unveiled the first Gripen E prototype and in November the Gripen Design Development Network (GDDN) facility was inaugurated in Gavião Peixoto. The GE Aviation F414-powered jet is on track for first flight during the first half of this year; deliveries will start in 2019 for the Swedish air force, followed by Brazil.
“As announced in November of last year, the first flight of aircraft 39-8 is now scheduled for the second quarter of 2017. Our main priority is customer delivery on time and with the required functionality starting in 2019,” explains Mikael Franzén, head of the Gripen Brazil Business unit.
“We work continuously to optimise the Gripen development and test programme accordingly and therefore the first flight will be performed when it is most beneficial to the overall programme. Encouraged by the progress in the programme, we took the decision in 2016 to perform full qualification of the software before the first flight instead of the planned partial qualification which would be the normal industry standard,” he adds. “We are convinced that this decision will benefit the complete flight test programme as it will result in a much more mature platform and an easier functionality build-up. And the programme is on track for deliveries.”
The Brazilian Air Force’s Gripen NG variant is proceeding on schedule as signed by Saab, the air force and local industry partners. “Deliveries to Brazil were not impacted by economic issues inside Brazil as the Swedish Export Credits Guarantee Board and the Swedish Export Credit Corporation are providing the finance solution for Brazil,” says Franzén.
Jackson Schneider, Embraer’s defense and security chief executive, says the airframer can use the Gripen Design and Development Network for potential future opportunities the company can identify jointly with Saab can jointly identify. This could consist of an export version of the two-seater, for example.
“Aircraft 39-9 and 39-10 – the next two Swedish-standard prototypes – will be used for various kinds of system verification and development, says Franzén. “The first Gripen aircraft for Brazil [as well as] the first Gripen F twin-seater will also be test aircraft. Both prototypes and the first test aircraft for Brazil are right now in production at Saab’s facilities in Linköping and the first aircraft are progressing well and according to plan.”
The new Saab Brazilian aerostructures manufacturing subsidiary SBTA is going through the selection of industrial facilities and recruitment of personnel will commence during 2017. “The [SBTA] factory will produce subassemblies for both Gripen production lines, in Sweden and in Brazil,” Franzén adds.
Gripen deliveries to the Brazilian air force will take place between 2019 and 2024 and the Gripen final assembly line in Gavião Peixoto will be set up in an existing production facility there.
Gripen manufacturing at Embraer’s Gavião Peixoto plant is set to start in 2020. Of the total 36 aircraft ordered by the air force, 13 will be completely manufactured in Sweden, eight single-seaters will be built in Sweden and completed in Brazil, eight more single-seaters will be totally manufactured in Brazil, while the remaining seven twin-seaters will be totally manufactured in Brazil.
The Gripen NG programme carries with it 60 technology transfer programmes worth roughly $4.5 billion. These cover four areas aiming to provide the Brazilian aerospace industry with the technology and knowledge needed to develop, produce and maintain Gripens in Brazil: theoretical training, a research and technology programme, on-the-job-training in Sweden and development and production work. Gripen F development has already started and is being conducted jointly by Saab, Embraer, AEL Sistemas and Akaer; major milestones will be airframe development, vehicle systems development, dual cockpit development, flight testing and production.
Franzén adds that some of the Brazilian companies working on Gripen NG are also working on the Gripen E programme. These include AEL Sistemas, which supplies the helmet-mounted display for both Sweden and Brazil, and Akaer, contracted by Saab to develop parts to the fuselage of the Gripen fighter even before Saab was downselected for negotiations to re-equip the Brazilian air force.
He explains that Saab “hopes and believes that the agreement with Brazil will serve as a bridgehead to further business, not only in Latin America”, adding: “Systems produced in Brazil are likely to be included in the export versions of Gripen. But it is far too early to say what a potential win in India would mean, and we refrain from any speculation.”
Source: FlightGlobal.com
