Policy Brief | Avibras, a company with records of producing and exporting cluster munitions in Brazil, resumes operations and raises concerns among Civil Society
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Introduction
The Brazilian company Avibras Indústria Aeroespacial, known for records of producing and exporting cluster munitions, returned to the defense market on May 4, 2025, under a new name: Avibras Aeroco Indústria Aeroespacial. The change follows the severe crisis faced by the company since 2022, when it filed for its third judicial recovery process, following previous filings in 1990 and 2008. In the most recent period, the company accumulated debts of approximately R$800 million, worsened by a labor strike lasting more than 1,200 days, considered one of the longest in the country’s history.
The resumption of activities was made possible through a plan coordinated by Fundo Brasil Crédito, which raised R$300 million from private investors, in addition to a contract signed with businessman Joesley Batista, controller of the industrial conglomerate J&F. Previous proposals from investors from Australia, Saudi Arabia, and China were unsuccessful.
Cluster Munition: a weapons internationally condemned
Cluster munitions are area weapons that operate through the launch of a parent bomb, which disperses dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of submunitions designed to detonate upon impact with the ground. Although intended to explode immediately, these munitions are characterized by a high failure rate, remaining on the ground as dormant bombs that contaminate territories for years or even decades after the end of armed conflicts, making it impossible to distinguish between combatants and civilians.
According to the Cluster Munition Coalition’s Cluster Munition Monitor 2025, 314 people were victims of cluster munitions in 2024, all of them civilians. These figures are widely recognized as being subject to significant underreporting in contexts of active armed conflict. Among the victims, the most affected groups are, respectively, adult men — typically harmed during everyday activities — children, and women.
In response to these impacts, 112 States have already joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, adopted in Dublin in 2008 and in force since 2010. The treaty comprehensively prohibits the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions, while also establishing obligations related to the clearance of contaminated areas and assistance to victims. The Convention represents themain international legal instrument aimed at eradicating this type of weapon and is widely recognized as a landmark of humanitarian disarmament
Brazil, however, is not a party to the Convention, a diplomatic stance that places the country at odds with the majority of Latin American states, a region in which 25 countries have already joined the treaty. Furthermore, Brazil’s non-accession to the Convention carries an additional inconsistency when considering the country’s participation in the main contemporary arms regulation and disarmament frameworks, as it is a State Party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, the Arms Trade Treaty, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and, as an exemplary member, the Ottawa Treaty. It is also important to note that landmines are weapons whose environmental and civilian impacts are extremely similar to those caused by the use of cluster munitions, an inconsistency that further reinforces the urgency of Brazil’s accession to the Convention.
The ASTROS System and its cluster munition delivery capability
The ASTROS (Artillery Saturation Rocket System) is a ground-to-ground artillery rocket and missile system developed by Avibras, capable of launching rockets as well as tactical ballistic and cruise missiles of different calibers from the same platform, with ranges varying from 9 to 300 km. The system has two variations (ASTROS II and ASTROS III), both capable of delivering submunitions through launcher vehicles.
Made in Brazil: Records of use and export
The first documented use of the ASTROS system dates back to the Gulf War, when Saudi Arabia employed the system in operations against Iraq. More recently, the weapon system was internationally documented in attacks carried out by Saudi Arabia in Yemen between 2015 and 2017, including strikes in urban and agricultural areas that had severe impacts on civilian populations.
The system has been exported to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and Malaysia. In 2022, Ukraine also expressed interest in acquiring the system.
Dhesarme calls on the Brazilian government to combat Cluster Munitions
The resumption of production of the ASTROS system, which is capable of launching cluster munitions, takes place in a context where Brazil has still not joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the main international legal instrument prohibiting this type of weapon. This position places the country at odds with its constitutional commitment to the prevalence of human rights and with the principles of International Humanitarian Law that guide Brazilian foreign policy.
Dhesarme expresses concern regarding the humanitarian implications of this resumption and reiterates the urgency for the Brazilian government to review its position concerning the Convention, considering accession to the treaty as a concrete step toward a foreign policy consistent with its principles of promoting peace and protecting civilians.
It is recommended that any contracts and production lines related to the launch of cluster munitions be reviewed in light of the documented humanitarian impacts associated with these weapons. Brazil’s national defense industry should be aligned with the international and constitutional commitments assumed by the Brazilian State.
Furthermore, it is reiterated that the opposition is not directed toward Avibras Aeroco itself, but rather toward the inherent cruelty of the weaponry that constitutes its principal product. As tirelessly denounced by civilian populations, survivors, and their testimonies, these weapons leave behind a legacy marked by territories contaminated with dormant explosives, devastated families, and attacks whose consequences extend far beyond periods of combat or the military interests of any armed force.
Dhesarme calls upon civil society to engage against the production of cluster munitions on Brazilian soil, reaffirming the indispensability of Brazil’s accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Referências
AGÊNCIA BRASIL. Workers at Avibras end strike after three years of paralysis. Agência Brasil, Economy, Mar. 2026. Available at: Agência Brasil. Accessed on: 27 May 2026.
AVIBRAS INDÚSTRIA AEROESPACIAL S/A. Defense. Avibras, [n.d.]. Available at: Avibras Defesa. Accessed on: 27 May 2026.
BBC NEWS BRASIL. What Joesley Batista’s investment in a struggling Brazilian arms manufacturer indicates about the defense sector boom. BBC News Brasil, [n.d.]. Available at: BBC News Brasil. Accessed on: 27 May 2026.
CLUSTER MUNITION COALITION. Brazil: Cluster Munition Ban Policy. Cluster Munition Monitor, [n.d.]. Available at: Cluster Munition Monitor Brazil Profile. Accessed on: 27 May 2026.
CONVENTION ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS. States Parties. Convention on Cluster Munitions, [n.d.]. Available at: Convention on Cluster Munitions. Accessed on: 27 May 2026.
G1. Brazil’s largest arms manufacturer, Avibras, resumes activities after years of crisis and shutdown in Jacareí, SP. G1 Vale do Paraíba e Região, 4 May 2026. Available at: G1. Accessed on: 27 May 2026.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH. Cluster Munition Monitor 2025. Cluster Munition Coalition, 2025. Available at: Cluster Munition Monitor 2025. Accessed on: 27 May 2026.
INFODEFENSA. LAAD 2023: Avibras Aerospace and Defense presents ASTROS III, ASTROS AFC and tactical cruise missile. Infodefensa, 2023. Available at: Infodefensa. Accessed on: 27 May 2026.
O GLOBO. Avibras files for judicial recovery and lays off 400 workers in factories in São Paulo state. O Globo, Economy, Business, [2022]. Available at: O Globo. Accessed on: 27 May 2026.
VIEIRA, Gustavo Oliveira; SITO, Santiago Artur Berger (eds.). The treaty banning cluster bombs and the Brazilian position: contributing to the national debate. Santa Maria, RS: Centro Universitário Franciscano, 2010.
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