The European Defense Fund announced this week the investment of 30 million euros to support the FASETT (Future Air System for European Tactic Transport) project, which could potentially result in a new tactical freighter in the same category as the Embraer KC390 Millennium. The initiative, involving 33 European companies, is led by Airbus Defense & Space.
The initial phase of the project is expected to last for the next 18 months, during which a technical and market feasibility study will be conducted. If approved, full development of the aircraft is expected to occur between 2030 and 2040. The European press informally calls the aircraft the “A200M”, suggesting a compact version of the Airbus A400M Atlas.
The FASETT is intended to replace military transport aircraft in service with EU countries’ armed forces, such as the C130 Hercules, Leonardo C27 Spartan and Airbus C295. Powertrain and performance details have yet to be defined. All that is said is that the device resulting from the project must be able to complement the activities of the A400M, which is a large and longrange multirole aircraft and therefore more expensive.
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The KC390 made its debut with the Brazilian Air Force in 2019; The next operator will be Portugal (Embraer).
In search of new tactical transport aircraft, the air forces in Europe are divided between the C130J and the KC390. The Brazilian plane has already been ordered by Portugal and Hungary, and has been selected by the Netherlands, which is expected to complete its purchase of the Millennium later this year. The FASETT project is therefore able to break this hegemony in the category, which essentially only offers aircraft options from Lockheed Martin and Embraer.