PPG Industries’ aerospace transparencies group is designing windshields for the KC-390 military transport aircraft.
These will be the largest glass windshields PPG has produced and the industry’s first to have a compound bent shape, providing ballistics resistance and night-vision capabilities.
The contract, with Embraer Defense and Security, will see PPG design and manufacture production and spare windshields, and side cockpit and fuselage windows for the KC-390.
PPG global director for military transparencies Connie Poulsen said the windshields will be approximately 11 square feet to provide pilots with expansive viewing.
The number two and three side cockpit windows will be glass and meet requirements for ballistics resistance and night-vision compatibility.
"PPG has a history of delivering complex technical solutions on time to Embraer, and that history was instrumental in Embraer’s decision-making process for the KC-390," Poulsen said.
"Our technical design capabilities and glass-bending expertise are critical to achieving the vision Embraer has for the KC-390 aircraft."
PPG is designing and will produce the heated glass windshields and side cockpit windows at its Huntsville, Alabama, US, facility, while the fuselage windows are being designed from stretched acrylic and will be manufactured at its Sylmar, California, location.
The company has delivered the first articles and Embraer expects the aircraft to enter service in 2016.
In addition to the KC-390, PPG produces transparencies for nearly every Embraer aircraft in production, including the 314 ALX Super Tucano, ERJ 135/145, EMB 170/190, Phenom 100/300, Embraer Legacy 450 and Lineage 1000 aircraft.
