— Embraer signed a contract with the United Arab Emirates’ Tawazun Council in Abu Dhabi on Monday, May 4, for ten firm C-390 Millennium military transport aircraft plus options for ten more, the largest international single-country order in the program’s history.
— Citi analysts estimate the firm portion of the deal at roughly seven hundred million U.S. dollars, or about three and a half billion reais, based on a unit price near seventy million dollars; Embraer shares EMBJ3 jumped 3.49 percent on the day, the third-largest gain in the Ibovespa.
— The deal is the first C-390 sale in the Middle East and follows earlier wins in Portugal, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, and South Korea; active negotiations continue with Saudi Arabia and India, where Embraer is partnering with the Mahindra group on potential local assembly.
The Embraer C-390 UAE deal is the most significant defense export Brazil has signed in years. It validates a program that absorbed roughly four and a half billion U.S. dollars of development cost over fifteen years.
The contract was signed in Abu Dhabi on Monday by Tawazun Council secretary general Nasser Humaid Al Nuaimi and Embraer Defense and Security CEO Bosco da Costa Junior, in the presence of UAE vice-president and deputy prime minister Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Embraer group CEO Francisco Gomes Neto. The agreement covers ten firm aircraft plus ten options and includes a maintenance, repair, and overhaul partnership with a UAE company that will service the C-390 fleet locally.
The Rio Times, the Latin American financial news outlet, reports that the Embraer C-390 UAE deal lifted the company’s order backlog, which already stood at thirty-two billion U.S. dollars at the end of the first quarter, the sixth consecutive quarterly record. Defense and security alone accounted for four and a half billion dollars of that backlog before the new contract.
Why the Embraer C-390 UAE Deal Matters
The C-390 Millennium is Embraer’s largest aircraft and the largest ever produced in Brazil. The program was announced in 2009 and developed in partnership with the Brazilian Air Force, absorbing an estimated four and a half billion U.S. dollars in development cost.
Sales were slow through 2022 with only Portugal, Hungary, and the Netherlands signed up. The pace shifted in 2023 with Austria, the Czech Republic, and South Korea joining the operator club.
Citi estimated that the firm portion of the contract adds roughly seven hundred million U.S. dollars to the Embraer backlog, equivalent to about three and a half billion reais, assuming a unit price near seventy million dollars. The figure represents about sixteen percent of the current defense backlog. The C-390 production line is now expected to remain effectively booked through the end of the decade.
Competition with Lockheed and Airbus
The C-390 competes directly with the Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules and the Airbus A400M in the medium-tactical military transport category. Until this contract, the C-390 had no Middle East operator, leaving the regional market dominated by the Hercules and the A400M. Winning the UAE air force after extensive operational testing in the country gives Embraer a credible reference for negotiations with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
Embraer estimates the global market for medium tactical transports at roughly four hundred ninety aircraft over the next twenty years, equivalent to sixty billion U.S. dollars in addressable demand. The Indian competition involves between forty and eighty aircraft and a partnership with the Mahindra group for local manufacturing.
What This Means for Brazil and Investors
For Brazil, the deal arrives at a useful moment. The Lula administration has been working to reset relations with Washington ahead of a Thursday White House meeting between president Lula and U.S. president Trump, and a high-profile defense export to a Gulf partner of the United States adds credibility to Brazilian industrial policy. The contract also lands during a period of weak Brazilian export volumes; Brazilian exports to the United States fell roughly 18.7 percent in the first quarter according to data referenced in our prior coverage.
For investors, the contract reinforces the structural revaluation thesis on Embraer that has driven shares higher across 2025 and 2026. Banco Safra raised the ADR target from seventy to ninety-two U.S. dollars earlier this year on the same combination of a record backlog, geopolitical demand for defense, and lower equity cost of capital. For broader context, see our analysis of the EU-Mercosur trade deal that took effect May 1, and our prior coverage of Brazilian market positioning heading into the second quarter.