Brazil courting Angola as KC-390 customer
May 27, 2025
Angola is the world’s second largest Portuguese-speaking country (after Brazil), and has been targeted as Embraer’s best ‘prospect’ for a first KC-390 sale in Africa. Although Embraer has made several export sales of its new tactical transport aircraft, the company does not have any confirmed customers on the African continent, though advanced discussions have been reported with South Africa, Morocco, and Egypt.
President Lula previously said that he hoped to sell four Embraer KC-390s to Angola during a visit to the African country in August 2023. At that time, the president of APEX (the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency), Jorge Viana, told the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo that any sale of the C-390 Millennium to Angola would rely on Brazilian financing.
The Força Aérea Nacional de Angola (FANA) is predominantly equipped with aircraft of Russian/Soviet origin, but has received 12 EMB-312 Tucano training aircraft and six EMB-314 Super Tucano light attack aircraft, and in 2022, the Angolan government signed an agreement to acquire three C295 turboprops from Airbus, one for transport missions and two of them for maritime patrol.
During his meeting with the Angolan President on 23 May, President Lula said that the African country wanted to acquire three KC-390s and that Brazil’s state development bank BNDES could help “finance the sale of the three KC-390 aircraft that Angola wants to buy, a replacement for the Hercules.”
The number of aircraft seems to have reduced since August 2023 when Lula predicted an order for four aircraft.
On 23 May, the Brazilian President told a press conference at the Planalto Palace, in Brasília that: “Embraer is available to restore the Angolan fleet of Super Tucano aircraft and supply new aircraft. It’s good for Brazil, it’s good for Angola, I think we can make an effort and help Angola buy these planes.”
