Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with US defense firm Anduril to jointly pursue the integration of a palletized version of the BARRACUDA-500M cruise missile aboard the C-390 MILLENNIUM tactical airlifter. According to Embraer Defense & Security President and CEO Bosco da Costa Junior, the requirement for this new offensive capability has come from "several — unspecified — countries in Europe, as well as in Asia."

The pairing of Anduril's weapon system with Embraer's established airlift platform is intended to offer operators a means of generating massed, affordable stand-off strike effects "from a proven airlift platform," as noted by Greg Kausner, Anduril's Senior Vice President for Global Defense. The C-390's customer base lends weight to that ambition: the type is currently in service with Brazil, Portugal, Hungary and the Czech Republic, while South Korea, the Netherlands, Austria, Uzbekistan, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, and Slovakia have all placed orders. This broad and operationally diverse customer list represents a sizeable pool of potential adopters for a palletized, air-launched stand-off strike capability.

The BARRACUDA-500M is the kinetic-effect variant of Anduril's BARRACUDA family of autonomous air vehicles (AAVs) — medium/long-range, turbojet-powered, subsonic cruise missiles. It was developed under the Enterprise Test Vehicle (ETV) program in response to a US armed forces requirement for a low-cost, "hyper-scale production" alternative to systems such as the TOMAHAWK and the JASSM-ER. Anduril has stated the Barracuda's unit cost at under $216,000 — roughly a tenth of the cost of a TOMAHAWK cruise missile. The missile family is designed for launch from a wide range of platforms, including the F-35 LIGHTNING II, F-15 EAGLE, strategic bombers and various rotary-wing platforms. In US service, it can also be deployed from the C-17 GLOBEMASTER III and C-130 HERCULES via palletized launch from the cargo hold. Anduril states that the 500M variant has a range exceeding 500 nautical miles, carries a 45 kg payload, and reaches speeds of up to 500 knots.

The integration roadmap between the 2 systems has yet to be disclosed. Da Costa declined to provide a timeline for a first flight test of the missile aboard the C-390.