Brazil relaunches Avibras as Aeroco with precision strike portfolio

Avibras Aeroco officially commenced operations on April 30, 2026, establishing itself as a new Brazilian-owned enterprise with private Brazilian capital built on the strategic assets and consolidated technological portfolio of Avibras Indústria Aeroespacial.

The new company designs, develops, manufactures, and markets defense systems and space solutions — missiles, rockets, special vehicles, and space launchers — supported by critical propulsion technologies and systems integration expertise that its leadership describes as difficult to obtain given the restrictions on transferring this category of knowledge internationally.

The product portfolio Avibras Aeroco inherits from its predecessor centers on the ASTROS Artillery System — one of the more successful Brazilian defense exports of the past four decades and a platform with genuine combat-proven credentials. ASTROS is a multiple rocket launch system capable of firing rockets and missiles across a range of calibers and ranges from a common vehicle platform, giving users a flexible, long-range surface-to-surface fires capability that has found buyers across South America, the Middle East, and beyond. The system’s operational record and the industrial infrastructure built around supporting it form the foundation on which Avibras Aeroco’s commercial and technical credibility rests.

Two new programs in development give the company’s forward trajectory substance. The Tactical Cruise Missile, designated TCM, is currently in the certification phase with a stated range of 300 kilometers — a precision long-range strike capability that, if certified and fielded, would place Brazil in a small group of countries that have developed indigenous cruise missile technology. The Tactical Ballistic Missile, the TBM, is also in development with a range exceeding 100 kilometers, adding a ballistic strike option to the company’s portfolio alongside the rocket artillery systems and cruise missile work. Together, the TCM and TBM represent a deliberate expansion of Avibras Aeroco’s product line from proven rocket artillery into precision guided long-range strike — a higher-value, more restricted technology category where indigenous capability is both more difficult to acquire and more strategically valuable to possess.

The propulsion expertise that underpins all of those programs is the capability that makes Avibras Aeroco genuinely difficult to replicate or replace. Rocket and missile propulsion development requires decades of accumulated engineering knowledge, testing infrastructure, specialized manufacturing processes, and the institutional memory that survives across program generations. Countries and companies that possess this expertise occupy a privileged position in defense markets precisely because technology transfer restrictions prevent most buyers from simply purchasing the knowledge from a more advanced partner. Avibras Aeroco’s leadership explicitly frames this scarcity as a strategic asset — one that makes the company, in its own description, a unique and highly valued asset for multiple nations.

The governance and financial restructuring that accompanies the launch is as significant as the product portfolio. Brazilian-owned with private Brazilian capital, Avibras Aeroco begins operations with what its announcement describes as solid foundations in governance, financial structure, and operations. Defense industry companies that carry legacy financial burdens or governance complications face persistent challenges in winning international contracts and sustaining long-term development programs — challenges that the new company’s structure is designed to avoid. A clean start with aligned governance gives Avibras Aeroco the institutional stability that international defense customers require from a supplier of complex, long-cycle systems like missiles and launch vehicles.

Sami Hassuani, an engineer with more than 40 years of experience in the defense and aerospace sectors, takes the helm as Chief Executive Officer. His statement on assuming the role reflects an understanding of how defense industry relationships actually function: “Bringing consistency and strategic vision to the business is fundamental to Avibras Aeroco’s development, especially in a sector that demands long-term planning, relationships built on trust, and continuity in partnerships. I believe in the importance of aligning technology with purpose and of reinforcing the role of solutions developed to meet our clients’ operational and strategic needs.”

Defense budgets are rising across Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia — all regions where ASTROS has existing customer relationships and where the restrictions on acquiring Western precision strike technology create demand for alternative suppliers. A Brazilian company with indigenous cruise missile and ballistic missile development programs, supported by established propulsion and systems integration expertise, occupies a market position that few suppliers in the Global South can match.

The space solutions dimension of the company’s portfolio — including space launchers — connects the defense work to Brazil’s broader ambitions in the space sector, where the same propulsion technology that powers military rockets finds application in launch vehicles for satellites and scientific payloads. That dual-use character of propulsion expertise gives Avibras Aeroco a technology base whose value extends beyond defense procurement cycles.