Brazil’s Embraer, the world’s biggest maker of regional aircraft, chose an engine partnership in which Pratt & Whitney Co. is an owner as engine supplier for its military transport plane KC-390, signaling that the company is moving ahead in its venture into defense within schedule, Reuters reports.
Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil-based Embraer said in a statement on Monday that first deliveries of the V2500-E5 engine should begin in 2013. IAE is a multinational consortium formed by Rolls-Royce United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt unit and the Japanese Aero Engine Corp, among others.
“The choice of the first suppliers is key for us to start the project in this new, more advanced phase,” Luiz Carlos Aguiar, head of Embraer’s defense unit, said in the statement.
Deliveries of the first defense cargo airplane, known as the KC-390, are expected by the end of 2015, and analysts have predicted prices of between $80 million and $100 million per aircraft.
