Brazil's cruise missile testing resumes after years of delay

Brazil’s Avibras Aeroco and the Brazilian Army completed a successful test launch of the country’s first indigenous cruise missile on August 26, a milestone in a certification process that stalled for roughly four years while the missile’s manufacturer worked through a severe financial crisis.

The test took place at the Army Evaluation Centre’s Marambaia Test Range in Rio de Janeiro, according to a joint statement from Avibras Aeroco and the Brazilian Army. The missile, known as the Tactical Cruise Missile or MTC, is part of the ASTROS artillery system’s family of guided munitions and is designed to strike targets up to 300 kilometers (186 miles) away. The companies said the exercise met all objectives set for this phase of testing.

The MTC-300, also called the AV-MTC 300, has a range of 300 kilometers, a diameter of 450 millimeters and a length of 5.4 meters (17.7 feet). Each ASTROS launch unit currently in Brazilian Army service can carry two of the missiles. The system uses a combination of satellite and inertial navigation to hit within roughly 30 meters of its target, and Brazil has designed two warhead options for it: a high-explosive version and a cluster configuration carrying 66 submunitions. A turbojet engine built by Brazilian company Turbomachine, producing up to 499 kilograms-force (1,100 pounds-force) of thrust, propels the missile to high subsonic speeds of around 1,000 km/h (620 mph) at cruising altitudes between 200 and 800 meters.

Brazil’s army and Avibras began developing the missile in 2012 under the ASTROS Strategic Programme, intending to give the country’s rocket artillery system enough range to strike well beyond its immediate region. Testing stalled in 2022, when Avibras fell into a financial crisis tied to roughly 800 million reais ($133 million) in debt, triggering a prolonged strike involving around 900 employees and effectively freezing the company’s defense programs. The situation began to turn around in May, when Avibras reached an agreement to settle its outstanding labor debts, clearing the way for the company’s restructuring under the new name Avibras Aeroco and the resumption of missile testing.

According to the Brazilian Army, the August test served as part of the missile’s final flight-verification testing, ahead of a last remaining test that will use a live warhead, the final step required before the MTC-300 can be formally validated for service.

Brazil’s army has also revived plans for an upgraded version of the missile, known as MTC Block II, according to guidelines the army published in August for its broader ASTROS-FOGOS Strategic Programme. The Block II upgrade calls for adding an unspecified terminal guidance system, extending the missile’s range and improving its warhead, changes the army has linked to new requirements for coastal defense and for striking moving targets, a description that suggests the upgraded missile could eventually engage ships. The Block II project remains officially listed as “not started.”

Officials attending the August test included Brig. Gen. João Paulo Zago, head of the Army Evaluation Centre; Brig. Gen. Marcelo Gurgel do Amaral Silva, manager of the army’s FOGOS Strategic Programme; and Brig. Gen. Moisés da Paixão Junior, manager of the Field Artillery Sub-programme, alongside representatives from the Army Projects Office, the Manufacturing Directorate, the Military Institute of Engineering and the Army Technology Centre.

Avibras’s pause since 2022 gave rise to competition it did not previously face in Brazil’s missile industry. Other Brazilian firms have since disclosed their own cruise missile programs, including the AATD, reported to have a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) using the same turbojet engine as the MTC-300, and the MCX, described as an export-friendly medium-range cruise missile with a satellite datalink. Separately, Brazilian company SIATT integrated Brazil’s MANSUP anti-ship missile onto Marine Corps ASTROS launchers in 2025, despite legal action from Avibras at the time, and is developing its own coastal defense missile system.

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