How Avibrás Could Enter the Army’s Billion-Real Israeli Contract After Its Sale to Joesley

A proposal before the Brazilian Army’s Logistics Command could give Avibrás its first major armed-forces contract since brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista announced their purchase of the country’s largest defense manufacturer. The plan involves 36 wheeled, armored, self-propelled 155 mm howitzers in a deal estimated at about 800 million reais.

The Israeli Atmos system won the international tender in 2024, but the contract was never signed. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva blocked the purchase over Israel’s actions against Gaza’s civilian population during its war against Hamas. The proposal now under consideration seeks to overcome that impasse while helping revive Avibrás, which had spent four years in paralysis and entered judicial recovery.

Defense Minister José Múcio Monteiro Filho, described as the strongest supporter of the solution, received the president’s approval in June to find a way forward. An initial Army contract has already given Avibrás work supplying rockets for the Astros artillery system, completing tests for the MTC-300 Tactical Cruise Missile and developing a tactical ballistic missile. That contract was worth 300 million reais.

The howitzer project dates back to 2022, when the Army’s Logistics Command, its Department of Science and Technology and the Army General Staff began examining it through the Army Projects Office. The Israeli company Elbit’s Atmos ranked first. A Slovak manufacturer came second and had proposed partnering with Avibrás to assemble its howitzer in Brazil. France’s KNDS ranked third with its Caesar system.

KNDS challenged the result, questioning whether the Atmos met the battlefield-testing requirement and whether the Slovak system could be transported on Brazilian roads. The Army and the Federal Audit Court rejected the administrative appeals. The Israeli contract nevertheless remained unsigned for geopolitical reasons. The current proposal would use the purchase to support Avibrás, provided the price and equipment specifications remain unchanged.