The largest aircraft development project in which Portuguese aeronautical engineering was involved. The KC-390, the first military cargo plane of the Brazilian aeronautical giant (and the largest aircraft produced by Embraer), required more than 250 thousand hours of engineering in its design, resistance calculation, and manufacturing validation.
This project contributed to the strengthening of the national aeronautical cluster, with the production in Portugal of components of the KC-390 freighter, namely a part of the central fuselage (development, processes, design, and manufacture of tools and shipyards) and the design and certification of parts (spoilers and clamshell).
PIEP was mainly involved in carrying out tests on the project with its knowledge in the polymers area.