Prime Minister António Costa presides tomorrow at the Presentation Ceremony of the first National KC-390 aircraft, that takes place tomorrow, day 19 October, Air Base No. 11, Beja, at 10:30 am.
The first of the five aircraft purchased by the Portuguese Government from the Brazilian Embraer arrived at the Air Base on Sunday (BA) 11, in Beja, after having taken off the day before from Gavião Peixoto, Sao Paulo, towards Europe.
It is recalled that in 11 July 2019, the Council of Ministers approved and authorized various expenses for the acquisition of goods from the Embraer consortium, road access to it will also benefit, SADDLE, including five aircraft and a flight simulator.
The acquisition of the five KC-390 aircraft and the flight simulator involves an amount greater than 606 million, to which they join more 221 million, both plus VAT, the latter heading referring to logistical services, road access to it will also benefit.
To these values ​​are added the investments made by FAP in BA11, with the construction of the building for the Police Station 501 and for the flight simulator, no value 9,8 million. The requalification of the hangar 131-264, cost 4,3 million, while the simulator building is budgeted in 5,3 million, The hangar target of major requalification, it was for many years “to home” dos Alpha-Jet, from Squad 103-“snails”, suspended in 2018 with the end of life of aircraft received from Germany. The C-130H aircraft are operated by Squadron 501-“bison” which is based at BA6, no Montijo, and should change to BA11, in Beja, early next year.
new flight simulator
The German company Rheinmetall Defense Electronics was the supplier chosen by Embraer to deliver the new simulator, which comprises three types of simulation for the crew of aircraft of Brazilian origin. A complete flight motion simulator, Rheinmetall's simulator comprises three types of simulation for the crew of the KC-390.
CEMFA guarantees, General Cartaxo Alves
On 3 July, after the flag-raising ceremony that marked the commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the Portuguese Air Force (FAP), which took place in Beja, General Cartaxo Alves, Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CEMFA), about the arrival of the Brazilian aircraft revealed that “the infrastructures of BA11 and also in the Bairro are being reformulated, which will be ready in August/September and from that date on we will receive the first aircraft that will not enter directly into the workforceâ€, adding that from Beja, read BA11, “the aircraft will take two to three months to carry out an operational assessment and to insert equipment that will be incorporated in Portugal, with FAP engineeringâ€, materialized.
Cartaxo Alves, detailed that later the KC-390 “will undergo tests and then its certification, so that in March 2023 enter the Air Force device and can begin to cross the skies of Beja operationallyâ€, concluded. Finally, the Air Force Chief of Staff assured that, “From there, the entire device, either people or aircraft, and from that date (March of 2023) will begin to arrive sequentially in Beja
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
