On Friday, 21 November 2025, the Brazilian company Embraer (Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica) announced that it had officially delivered to the Hungarian Ministry of Defence and the Hungarian Air Force (Magyar Légierő) the second and final unit of the ordered C-390 Millennium transport and tanker aircraft.
Photos: Embraer
The ceremony took place at Hungary’s 59th Dezső Szentgyörgyi Air Base in Kecskemét, Bács-Kiskun County, and was attended by the Hungarian Minister of Defence, Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, as well as other representatives of the ministry and the military, along with Embraer’s senior management.
Since the delivery of the first C-390 Millennium to Hungary on 5 September 2024, it has so far carried out a wide range of missions with a completion rate exceeding 99%. With the delivery of the second aircraft, Hungary becomes the first C-390 operator to have received all contracted units.
“This is a truly inspiring moment and a great source of satisfaction, an incredibly important event in the development of the Hungarian Air Force. And I can say with certainty that the Hungarian people have become richer and stronger as a result. This type of transport capability was what the Hungarian Air Force lacked, but it is now available. My sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to this process,” said Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Hungary’s Minister of Defence.
“This is a significant milestone for Embraer as we deliver the second C-390 Millennium to the Hungarian Air Force. This aircraft will further enhance Hungary’s capabilities by providing superior operational performance, greater flexibility, and reduced life-cycle costs,” said Bosco da Costa Júnior, President and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security. “As partners, we look forward to expanding our cooperation to support the Hungarian Air Force in all its current and future operational needs.”
The Hungarian C-390 Millennium aircraft fall under the 101st Aviation Brigade and are intended for tasks such as transporting and airdropping heavy cargo, transporting soldiers, conducting parachute operations, performing medical evacuation of critically wounded personnel, and other missions carried out for the armed forces and other public services. The Hungarian units will be the first of all C-390s produced so far to be equipped with an intensive care unit for humanitarian missions and certified for in-flight refueling of JAS 39C Gripen multirole aircraft from the Puma Fighter Squadron.
Hungary’s Ministry of Defence ordered both aircraft on 17 November 2020 as part of the Zrinyi 2026 modernization program, in the KC-390 transport-and-tanker variant.
Let us recall that on 3 February of this year, the Brazilian company celebrated the 10th anniversary of the first flight of the C-390 Millennium prototype. Since then, beyond Hungary, orders have been received from: Brazil (19 units contracted instead of the originally planned 27), Portugal (6 units with an option for 10 more), the Kingdom of the Netherlands (5 units), Austria (4 units), the Republic of Korea (3 units), the Czech Republic (2 units), Sweden (4 units with an option for 7 more), and an undisclosed customer (2 units; Morocco?). Additionally, Slovakia and Lithuania are each expected to order 3 aircraft — the contracts have not yet been signed. The aircraft are also being actively promoted in the Saudi market, in India together with the Mahindra group under the MTA program (estimated at 40–80 units), in the broader Asian market, and in Poland under the Drop program (currently frozen). In total, of the 47 serially ordered aircraft, 12 have been delivered so far.
As mentioned, the C-390 can carry a larger payload compared to other medium-sized military transport aircraft, and it flies faster and farther, being capable of performing a wide range of missions such as cargo and troop transport and airdrop, medical evacuation, search and rescue, aerial refuelling (both as a tanker and as a receiver), firefighting and humanitarian missions, and operations from temporary or unpaved runways such as compacted earth, soil, and gravel.
The aircraft is 33.5 m long, has a wingspan of 33.9 m, and a height of 11.4 m. Its maximum take-off weight is 87 tonnes, of which 26 tonnes is payload. The cargo bay dimensions are 18.5 × 3.0 × 3.4 m. Its range with a 23-tonne payload is 2815 km. Powered by two IAE V2500-E5 turbofan engines producing 139.4 kN of thrust each, it achieves a cruising speed of 870 km/h and an altitude ceiling of 11,000 m.
The current operational fleet has demonstrated a mission readiness rate of 93% and mission completion rates above 99%.
NEWS | Embraer Completes C-390 Millennium Deliveries to Hungary Air Force. Read full news: https://t.co/o5JgRjuTi0 pic.twitter.com/y0GFdr9aHo
— Embraer (@embraer) November 21, 2025
