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LONDON—Colombia has joined the growing list of nations to refresh its airlift fleet with Embraer’s KC-390.
Bogota becomes the first export customer in Latin America for the twin-engine transport, buying two aircraft to meet the Colombia Aerospace Force’s (FAC) Heavy Tactical Military Transport requirement. Colombian officials say they secured a fixed price of $366.4 million for the two aircraft with the first to be delivered in 2029 and the second to arrive in 2030.
The contract also includes training, mission and ground support equipment and comprehensive logistics for two years, the air force said.
Colombia will equip the aircraft as tankers, and they will operate in conjunction with Colombia’s new fleet of Saab Gripen combat aircraft contracted last November. They will also perform disaster response, cargo transport and airdrop, troop and paradrop operations.
Colombia was one of several Latin American countries that agreed to acquire the aircraft through a letter of intent signed in September 2010 with plans to purchase 12 aircraft. It is unclear whether Bogota still plans to acquire that many.
In April, Colombia’s Aeronautical Industry Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with Embraer to explore industrial and technical cooperation on the C-390 and the A-29 Super Tucano, which is also flown by the FAC.
The FAC says the purchase follows a “rigorous analysis” of the market based on requirements laid out in the service’s Air and Space Development Strategy 2042 first written in 2019.
It says the aircraft was chosen following a “transparent and objective selection process, based on operational, logistical and economic criteria, aligned with the needs of the Colombian Aerospace Force and the country.”
The March 2026 loss of an FAC C-130 Hercules with 66 personnel onboard may have been another impetus for airlifter modernization. Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said at the time that he would accelerate the modernization of the Colombian military and that he had “requested the immediate purchase of helicopters, cargo and troop transport aircraft.”
Aviation Week Fleet Discovery database shows that Colombia operates a highly varied airlift fleet including Airbus CN235s and C295s, Boeing 737s and 767 Multi-Role Tanker Transports, Lockheed C-130Hs, as well as Embraer regional jets.
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