Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer has launched studies of a maritime patrol variant of the E190-E2 airliner and begun talks with potential development partners in foreign countries, which it plans to continue during the Dubai Airshow, a top executive says.

“We are looking for some international partners that could join us in this journey,” says Joao Bosco Costa Junior, CEO of Embraer Defense and Security. “So it’s a perfect moment to have this kind of conversation with them.”

One configuration of the aircraft under study involves a highly modified E190-E2, featuring a downward-canted, nose-mounted radome; fuselage belly-mounted anti-ship missiles; and an aft fuselage internal bay to carry sonobuoys. But the design is likely to evolve as configuration studies continue.

“We are far from a frozen configuration,” Bosco says. “We are now in a phase to evaluate all the possibilities and all the solutions available in the market to put the best [effort] we can in this potential product to have very quickly a potential launch customer.”

The maritime patrol concept studies for the 90-seat regional jet could offer Embraer an option to replace nine Brazilian Air Force P-3C Orions, which were acquired as used aircraft from the U.S. Navy in 2006.

If formally launched into development, an Embraer-designed maritime patrol aircraft based on the E190-E2 would represent one of the first large, turbofan-powered commercial aircraft to enter that market segment since the U.S. Navy introduced the Boeing P-8A more than a decade ago. The E190-E2 is equipped with Pratt & Whitney PW1900 geared turbofan.

In 2020, the Pakistan military selected the Embraer Lineage 1000—a variant of the original General Electric CF34-8-powered E190 regional jet—for the maritime patrol aircraft mission.