The president Jair Bolsonaro, in a live held this Thursday (28/01), stated that the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) is acquiring Airbus A330 model freighters.
The excerpt from the live held was shared by the General Commander of the FAB, Brigadeiro Baptista Jr, on his Twitter, where the president says that two “A230” freighters would be coming, as Bolsonaro usually makes mistakes in his statements, let’s assume they are the A330MRTT , or the A330F.
The planes will be allocated to the 2nd/2nd Transport Group (2nd/2nd GT), which is headquartered in Wing 11, at Galeão Airport (Rio de Janeiro). These two A330s will be acquired for BRL 500 million, according to the president, from an amount derived from the Lava Jato leniency agreements.
A possible A330 is the ideal aircraft to replace the former FAB KC-137, retired in 2013 and based on the Boeing 707. In addition, it will be an official substitute for the Boeing 767 freighter that the FAB used until 2018, but it was leased and was returned at the end of the contract.
During the pandemic, the Brazilian Government had to use airline services to transport cargo on long-distance flights, as at the beginning of the pandemic, when planes Boeing 777 from LATAM made an airlift from China to Brazil carrying masks.
Still at this moment, the transport of vaccines and supplies also counts on the assistance of national and international airlines.
The FAB, in turn, has the C-130/KC-130 and C-390 freighters, the latter being recently launched by Embraer, and capable of carrying up to 26 tons on short and medium-haul flights.
It is worth mentioning that the contract is still being carried out, and the information was advanced by the President of the Republic himself. Subsequently, the FAB will disclose more details about the order, if possible.
The Airbus A330 MRTT
The A330, as the acronym (Multi Role Tanker Transport) says, can fulfill various activities such as air refueling, troop transport and can carry a maximum payload of up to 45 tons, combining the enger cabin and the lower deck.
When carrying only engers, its maximum capacity is up to 300 engers;
In addition, the A330MRTT can also carry out missions that require long-distance flights between continents, something not possible with current FAB aircraft, which are more suitable for internal missions. The range of the A330 MRTT is up to 8334 km with full payload.
