Greece’s Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence approved the acquisition of three Embraer C-390 Millennium transport aircraft on 23 July 2026, with an option for three additional aircraft, under an intergovernmental arrangement with Portugal. The program is valued at USD $685 million, with deliveries expected between 2027 and 2030.
Greece became the thirteenth country to order or formally select the C-390. Embraer has now established the aircraft across NATO and several important non-NATO markets, but the growing C-390 orderbook is also creating a secondary market development: several of its customers will dispose of C-130H airframes as their new aircraft arrive.
Six of the 13 C-390 customers currently operate the standard, short-body C-130H or KC-130H, distinct from the stretched C-130H-30, the newer C-130J, and the former Royal Air Force (RAF) C-130K operated by Austria.
Those six fleets hold roughly 36 airframes. Belgium’s disposal route – a fleet sale that ended with the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) – shows how some of those aircraft may eventually reach Pakistan.
Six C-390 Customers Still Operate the C-130H
Sweden has five C-130Hs and one KC-130H tanker. Greece holds approximately ten C-130Hs, including aircraft that have spent extended periods in storage or under repair. The United Arab Emirates operates roughly eight C-130Hs alongside its civilian-derived L-100-30 transports.
South Korea received 12 H-family aircraft between 1987 and 1990, comprising eight standard C-130Hs and four stretched C-130H-30s. Portugal and the Netherlands operate two standard C-130Hs apiece, with the Dutch aircraft converted from former United States Navy EC-130Qs.
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