Brazilian defense manufacturer Avibrás has restarted operations after a four-year financial crisis, reopening its plant in São José dos Campos, an aerospace hub in São Paulo state, under a new corporate structure called Avibrás Aeroco.
The company said it began operations on April 30 with strategic assets, engineering capacity and product lines inherited from Avibrás Indústria Aeroespacial. Estadão reported that the restart followed a court-approved restructuring led by Fundo Brasil Crédito and supported by R$300 million, roughly USD 57 million at recent rates, from private investors.
A Private Rescue
One of those investors is Joesley Batista, controller of J&F, the Brazilian holding company behind meat giant JBS and businesses in pulp, energy, consumer goods and financial services. Estadão reported that Batista signed a contract to participate in the funding arranged by Fundo Brasil Crédito. Batista, the fund and Avibrás declined to comment to the newspaper.
Fundo Brasil Crédito is also Avibrás’s main creditor. The company entered recuperação judicial, Brazil’s court-supervised debt restructuring process, in March 2022 with R$394 million in debt, about USD 75 million at recent rates. The fund later proposed an alternative restructuring plan, approved by creditors and São Paulo’s courts.
The plan initially expected another R$300 million in public-sector financing, potentially from Finep, Brazil’s federal innovation agency, BNDES, the national development bank, or the federal infrastructure program PAC. Estadão reported that the fund decided to restart production before securing that public money.
Missiles and Contracts
Avibrás is best known for the Astros artillery rocket system, used by the Brazilian Army and sold abroad, including to Indonesia and Malaysia. The company’s main current customers are the Army and the Air Force, according to Estadão.
The new company is expected to continue work with the Army Projects Office on the MTC-300 tactical cruise missile, which Estadão says is 90% complete and still needs firing tests. Avibrás Aeroco and DefesaNet also cited the MTC-300, with a range of 300 kilometers, and a new MTB tactical ballistic missile with a range above 100 kilometers.
Army negotiations are being handled by the Logistics Command and the Department of Science and Technology. Estadão reported that future orders may use resources made possible by Complementary Law 221, which allowed up to R$30 billion, roughly USD 5.7 billion at recent rates, in strategic defense spending to be excluded from Brazil’s fiscal framework through 2031.
Workers and Sovereignty
The restart follows the end of a strike that lasted more than 1,280 days. Estadão reported that Avibrás renegotiated R$230 million in labor debts, about USD 44 million, owed to 1,400 former employees, with payment expected over up to four years. The company hired about 300 workers for the restart.
The Metalworkers’ Union of São José dos Campos and Region said it would keep demanding compliance with the labor agreement, payment of debts, respect for the collective bargaining convention and protection of employees’ rights. The union, affiliated with CSP-Conlutas, said it still supports nationalizing Avibrás and criticized the federal government for not signing new contracts or providing financial support during the crisis.
The rescue also carries a strategic dimension. Estadão reported that Brazil’s Armed Forces did not want Avibrás sold to foreign buyers after interest from China’s Norinco, Australia’s DefendTex and Saudi Arabia’s Black Storm Military Industries between 2024 and 2025.
Avibrás Aeroco said its engineering and certification capacity in propulsion and complex systems makes it a hard-to-replace asset in a global market where defense technology transfer is restricted. Sami Hassuani, the company’s chief executive, said long-term planning, trust and continuity with partners would be central to the new phase.