Greece Signs €590m Deal for Three KC-390s Through Portugal, Gaining Its First Air-to-Air Refuelling Capability

Greece has signed a government-to-government agreement with Portugal to buy three Embraer KC-390 Millennium transport and tanker aircraft, in a deal the Portuguese Ministry of Defence values at about €590 million. The first aircraft is due in 2027, followed by the second in 2029 and the third in 2031.

What was signed in Athens

The agreement was signed on Monday 2 November at the Greek Ministry of National Defence by António José Batista, Portugal’s Director-General of Armament and Defence Assets, and Major General Ioannis Bouras, head of Greece’s General Directorate for Defence Investments and Armaments. Portuguese Defence Minister Nuno Melo, Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias and the Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Air Force, General Sérgio Pereira, attended (Portuguese Government).

According to Lisbon, the three aircraft will be delivered in the same NATO configuration that the Portuguese Air Force uses, with mission equipment, entry-into-service support and through-life support included. Portugal will supervise production, help with acceptance and delivery, manage the operational transition and provide logistics support. Greek crews and mechanics will receive their initial training at the KC-390 training centre in Beja. Portugal expects an industrial return of €11 million per aircraft, or €33 million in total.

The Portuguese Air Force said the deal makes it Greece’s operational partner on the type, sharing doctrine and tactics, techniques and procedures (Portuguese Air Force). The agreement builds on a bilateral defence cooperation agreement that has been in force since April 2025.

Dendias: two firsts for the Hellenic Air Force

Dendias described the purchase as two firsts for Greece, according to Kathimerini, citing the Athens-Macedonian News Agency: the country’s first jet-powered transport aircraft and its first air-to-air refuelling capability for fighters. He said the tankers would refuel Rafale and Mirage 2000 fighters first and F-16s about a year later. Dendias also referred to Turkey’s 1974 military intervention in Cyprus, arguing that a refuelling capability could have changed events at the time. That is his political assessment, not an established fact.

Melo, as reported by the same agency, said the two countries could also cooperate on maintenance and training, and possibly on joint development of a floating platform for unmanned aerial vehicles and co-production of drones and other defence systems. No contract for those projects has been announced.

The aircraft

Embraer says the KC-390 can carry 26 tonnes of payload, cruise at up to 470 knots and operate from temporary or unpaved runways. With a quick-install air-to-air refuelling kit it can act as either a tanker or a receiver (Embraer statement via EDR). That dual role is why the order matters more for Athens than a straight transport buy: Greece has no tanker fleet today. Our ranking of the main aerial refuelling tankers compares the KC-390 with larger types such as the A330 MRTT and KC-46.

The Hellenic Air Force’s transport fleet is currently built around turboprop C-130 Hercules and C-27J Spartan aircraft.

Industry context

“This choice underscores the trust and confidence that leading NATO members place in our aircraft,” said Bosco da Costa Junior, President and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security. Embraer says Greece joins Portugal, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic and Sweden as European customers. Outside Europe, the type has been ordered by Brazil, South Korea, Uzbekistan, the United Arab Emirates and Colombia.

Buying through Portugal rather than directly from the manufacturer gives Greece an existing NATO operator’s training base and support chain from day one, and gives Lisbon both a revenue stream and a role in the type’s European network.

Sources: Portuguese Government (Ministry of Defence) communiqué; Portuguese Air Force; Embraer statement; Kathimerini / Athens-Macedonian News Agency.