The LUS-222, the first aircraft made in Portugal and which aims to replace the Spanish Aviocar

Portuguese military aviation took its first steps in 1912, but until now it has never operated a domestically produced aircraft.

CASA C-212 Aviocar: the story of the greatest success of the Spanish aeronautical industry
Rare images of one of the Spanish C-212 Aviocar aircraft of the United States Army

That could change in the near future, as Portugal has plans for what will be the first aircraft designed and manufactured in that country. The project has been taken on by the Aero.Next Portugal consortium, which brings together 36 entities and which "aims to develop, industrialize and operate from Portugal, a complete aeronautical programme that will place the country on the restricted map of players that are final integrators of aircraft, becoming involved in the entire value chain, from design and engineering to post-production services (MRO)", according to the public agency AICEP Portugal Global.

The consortium is led by Empresa de Engenharia e Aeronáutica (EEA), and its projects include "a light regional aircraft – the LUS-222, and two unmanned aircraft – ARX, a maritime and coastal surveillance drone, and ET15, a drone to transport medical supplies in an emergency context." EAA is currently involved in the successful Embraer C-390 Millennium project, a Brazilian twin-engine tactical transport aircraft similar in size to the C-130 Hercules, whose buyers include Brazil, Portugal, Austria, South Korea, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Hungary, and Sweden.

On its website, Aero.Next Portugal shows the images you can see here of the LUS-222 and offers some information about this transport aircraft: It will have a capacity of 19 passengers or 2,000 kg of cargo and a range of 2,000 km.

Furthermore, the LUS-222 aims to be a twin-engine STOL aircraft, that is, capable of taking off and landing on short and unprepared runways. Furthermore, the aim is to make an aircraft with low weight and easy maintenance. Both these features and its exterior appearance will be very familiar to you. In fact, some media have nicknamed the LUS-222 the "Portuguese Aviocar", due to its similarity to the CASA C-212 Aviocar, the biggest sales success in the Spanish aeronautical industry, as it was purchased by 31 military operators.

The Portuguese Air Force (FAP) was one of the Aviocar operators. It purchased 20 C-212s in two variants: the C-212-100A1 (4 units) and 16 C-212-100-A2P (16 units). In 2011, Portugal retired its C-212s and replaced them with another successful Spanish model: the CASA C-295, purchasing 7 C-295M tactical transport aircraft and 5 C-295 Persuader maritime patrol aircraft. However, the C-295 is a medium tactical transport aircraft, and in some missions, a light transport aircraft like the Aviocar is missed. This is the gap that the LUS-222 is intended to fill. I wish our Portuguese brothers much success in this initiative, which I will follow closely from here.

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Images: Aero.Next Portugal.