By Gabriel Araujo

(Reuters) – Brazilian planemaker Embraer’s defense unit is planning to open an office in Europe, as sales of its C-390 Millennium military cargo aircraft gain pace in the region.

The Czech Republic, Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden have all recently moved to purchase the aircraft, joining current operators Portugal and Hungary and underscoring strong momentum for the C-390 in Europe.

“We are interested in opening an Embraer Defense & Security office in Europe, which would very likely be in Portugal,” defense unit Chief Executive Bosco da Costa Junior told Reuters in an interview on Sunday.

Portugal was the first European and NATO country to place an order for the C-390, in 2019, and received its first aircraft last year. It is also expected to soon fill orders for Embraer’s light attack fighter, the A-29 Super Tucano.

The Brazilian planemaker had earlier this year named the European Union as a key market for sales of the C-390, along with India, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

The latest country to select the aircraft for its fleet was Sweden, which said on Saturday it would open negotiations for the C-390 to replace its aging fleet of Lockheed Martin’s C-130 Hercules turboprops.

“This office’s goal is to make Embraer Defense & Security a European player. We want it to have all the security clearances required by NATO,” Costa said.

Expanding its presence abroad with more sales of the C-390 has been a key goal of Embraer’s defense division, including getting more orders from NATO nations.

“We want to invest in Europe. We want a seat at the table. There is a lot of European content in our aircraft, and with new setups we have been increasing the European content,” Costa said.

“It’s a very strategic and well-considered step aimed at making Embraer Defense & Security increasingly NATO and European.”

Europe represents 14% of the C-390’s total addressable market, according to BTG Pactual analysts, behind only Asia-Pacific (34%) and the Middle East (32%).

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; editing by Jonathan Oatis)