Sweden Acquires Four Embraer C-390 Millennium Aircraft

Sweden acquired four C-390 Millennium multi-mission jets from Embraer on October 6.

The contract also includes seven additional purchase options, paving the way for future acquisitions by other European nations.

This important milestone for defense in Europe is part of a broader trilateral partnership between Austria, Sweden, and the Netherlands, aimed at fostering joint procurement, interoperability, and long-term cooperation around the C-390 Millennium platform. The seven options signed under this framework reflect growing European interest in this next generation aircraft and a shared commitment to modernizing tactical airlift capabilities across the continent.

With this acquisition, Sweden becomes another NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) member to join the strategic partnership already established by the Netherlands and Austria, who collectively ordered nine C-390s in 2024.

The C-390 can carry more payload (26 tons) compared to other medium-sized military transport aircraft and flies faster (470 knots) and farther, being capable of performing a wide range of missions, such as transporting and dropping cargo and troops, medical evacuation, search and rescue, firefighting and humanitarian missions, operating on temporary or unpaved runways, such as packed earth, soil and gravel.

The aircraft configured with air-to-air refueling equipment, with the designation KC-390, has already proven its aerial refueling capacity both as a tanker and as a receiver, in this case by receiving fuel from another KC-390 using pods installed under the wings.