PARIS, 23 June 2011.Military transport aircraft designers at Embraer SA Defense and Security segment in São José dos Campos, Brazil, needed an autothrottle system avionics for the company's future KC-390 military transport jet. They found their solution from the Esterline Technologies Corp. Control Systems segment in Bellevue, Wash. Embraer officials made the announcement this week at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, France.The KC-390 military transport jet's autothrottle system will have two throttles and integrated controls for controlling other systems. It will be designed to transmit the thrust demands from the flight crew or from the automatic systems of the aircraft to the KC-390's full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system, Embraer officials explain.The KC-390, which should see first flight in 2014, is to be a medium-size, twin-engine military transport jet that will be the heaviest aircraft that Embraer has made thus far. It will be able to move as much as 23 tons of cargo, including wheeled armored combat vehicles. The Brazilian air force has ordered 28 KC-390s.
Sharing in the KC-390's development are the governments of Chile, Colombia, and Portugal. Empresa Nacional de Aeronáutica (ENAER) in Santiago, Chile is part of the KC-390 program, and AERO Vodochody a.s. in Odolena Voda, Czech Republic, will manufacture parts for the aircraft.
The KC-390 will have a similar payload capacity to the U.S.-built Lockheed Martin C-130J military transport four-engine turboprop aircraft, and is expected to compete on the international military air transport market with C-130 variants.
For more information contact Embraer online at www.embraer.com, Esterline Control Systems at www.esterline.com/controlsystems, or the Paris Air Show at www.paris-air-show.com.
