As the Portuguese Air Force prepares for the scheduled arrival of its first Embraer KC-390 in March 2023, work is underway on the infrastructure at Base Aérea 11/Beja Air Base, the selected home of the new transport aircraft.
Construction work is currently being carried out around the clock on the previous hangar of Esquadra 103, the unit which provided advanced fast jet training to FAP pilots using the Dassault Alpha Jet A. This hangar has been chosen to host the KC-390 as it is the largest hangar available to the FAP.
A brand-new squadron building is being constructed, which will contain multiple offices, briefing and preparation rooms as well as other squadron facilities. The new squadron building will play host to the single simulator included in Portugal's KC-390 contract. Rheinmetall Defence Electronics will be the provider selected by Embraer to deliver the new KC-390 simulator. Rheinmetall’s simulator comprises three types of simulation for the KC-390 crew, a full flight motion simulator, a cockpit procedure trainer and a cargo hold station trainer for loadmasters.
Adjacent to the hangar will be a Ground Support Equipment building, also built from scratch, containing specific tools and assets to maintain and operate th…
