August 13, 2018 | International, Aerospace
Embraer’s defense head talks growth areas for the Brazilian giant
By: Aaron Mehta FARNBOROUGH, England — When Boeing and Embraer announced a tie-up for commercial business, it left quite a few questions about how the defense side of the Brazilian firm would work with the American giant. The answer, early on, is that there will be a new partnership around the KC-390 transport aircraft; but according to Jackson Schneider, president and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security, that is just the first step. During an interview at last month's Farnborough International Airshow, Schneider laid out his hopes for the Boeing tie-up as well as potential growth for the company's border security operations and A-29 Super Tucano aircraft. How does the Boeing-Embraer commercial deal impact the discussions you'll be having on the defense side? Defense will be a different transfer. We will decide together which will be the format. But it works as a normal joint venture, normal relationship, normal partnership. The most important thing to me in this dimension is [the interest] that both companies are dedicating for the programs. It is clear Boeing and Embraer is dedicated to investigate and identify the opportunities together. A lot of analysts expect the two companies to start in on some sort of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance/early-warning special-mission aircraft designs. Do you anticipate the same? I think that we have very interesting applications in terms of business jets — very creative. We have already had some solutions that could go to market for training, for medical evacuation, for airport inspections, but there are many other opportunities, alternatives that we can explore together, also in this joint venture. We will begin a conversation to see how we can explore together special-mission solutions for the market. Full Article: https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2018/08/03/embraers-defense-head-talks-growth-areas-for-the-brazilian-giant/