GLASTONBURY, CT -- (Marketwire) -- 11/12/11 -- DUBAI AIR SHOW -- Embraer Defense and Security, in concurrence with the Brazilian Air Force, recently announced that International Aero Engines AG has been chosen to provide the powerplant for the country's new KC-390 multi-role tanker/transport aircraft.
The engine has been designated the V2500-E5.
The KC-390 development program was launched in April 2009 and the Brazilian Air Force formalized its intent to purchase 28 aircraft in July of last year. Five additional countries have agreed to join as industrial partners, with resulting aggregate purchase intentions now totaling 60 airplanes. It will also be marketed globally, representing opportunities for further growth.
"We are very pleased to be providing V2500 powerplants for this new multi-role military aircraft being developed and produced by Embraer," said IAE President Ian Aitken. "This military application for our V2500 engine substantially opens a market that we have not done business in before, providing our business with opportunities for substantial further growth."
"The selection of IAE's V2500-E5 brings about the merger of a well known and proven engine with a winning clean-sheet design military program. It is very important for us to be closing the selection of main suppliers and partners in order to start working with them in this new phase," said Embraer Defense and Security President and CEO Luiz Carlos Aguiar.
Engineering work on the program has already commenced at IAE's shareholder companies: Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, MTU and JAEC. First deliveries of powerplants for prototype aircraft are scheduled to begin in 2013, with flight tests to start the following year. Production powerplants are anticipated for 2015, with entry into service projected for later that year. Deliveries are anticipated to last at least through 2030.
IAE is a multinational aero engine consortium whose shareholders are comprised of Pratt & Whitney (NYSE: UTX), Rolls-Royce (LSE: RR), Japanese Aero Engines Corporation and MTU Aero Engines. More than 4,800 V2500 engines have been delivered so far, with nearly 2,000 more engines on order and close to 200 customers around the world.