Lithuania plans to acquire Brazilian military transport aircraft

Lithuania plans to acquire three Brazilian Embraer C-390 Millennium military transport planes, Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė said on Wednesday.

"The Defence Ministry will join the negotiations on the acquisition of a new generation of military transport aircraft," she told reporters,

These aircraft will complement the Lithuanian Armed Forces' aviation fleet, which consists mainly of several helicopters and three Italian C-27J Spartan transport planes. The latter have been in service for more than 15 years.

"The current capabilities are inadequate, and the current situation, where we have to deal with the evacuation of citizens, demonstrates once again why the availability of modern, new-generation military transport aircraft is indispensable for the country," the minister said.

According to Šakalienė, the C-390 aircraft were selected as they meet the operational requirements formulated by the Lithuanian Armed Forces, and also the ecological and economic parameters of the aircraft, and the delivery deadlines have been taken into account.

These aircraft can also perform mid-air refueling, a function that Spartan does not have.

"The need we have expressed is that the situation calls for very quick solutions, and if the negotiations are successful and we can have the first aircraft within three years, [...] that would be a fantastic result," the defence minister said without disclosing the possible acquisition price.

"We won't know the price until the end of the negotiations, and we have only now taken the decision to join the negotiations. The preliminary analysis [...] shows that in terms of price it would be the best option we could get," Šakalienė said.

Lithuania uses Spartan aircraft for troop and cargo transport, training flights, airborne operations, medical evacuation, transport of VIPs and other special tasks.

According to the Defence Ministry, Portugal and the Netherlands have already acquired C-390 aircraft and are planning to acquire more of them. Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic and Sweden also have plans to buy the Brazilian planes.