Rayane Bueno
On Monday (12), the Minister of Defense, José Mucio Monteiro Filho, was at the Army Artillery Command, in Formosa (GO), accompanied by the Army Commander, Army General Tomás Ribeiro Paiva, to attend a demonstration of the Astros 2020 System, at the Missile and Rocket Artillery Training Center. Astros is one of Defense’s main strategic programs, and its development, besides representing an advance in the operational capacity of the Land Force, will generate more than seven thousand direct and indirect jobs.
“Astros is a great technological advance and shows how prepared we are. I am very impressed and proud of what I saw here,” said Minister José Mucio. The modernization of the Army’s artillery system has the objective of contributing to the increase of the Force’s dissuasive power, fundamental for the guarantee of national sovereignty.
On this occasion, the minister also visited the facilities of the Simulation Division of the Army?s Missile and Rocket Artillery Training Center, and the 16th Missile and Rocket Group. The visit was also honored by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces (EMCFA), Fleet Admiral Renato Rodrigues de Aguiar Freire; and by the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Defense, Luiz Henrique Pochyly da Costa.
Astros 2020 – Developed and designed by the Brazilian company Avibras, the missile launchers are capable of reaching targets between 10 and 300 km. With long range, high precision and lethality, they have firing capability with mission reception and analysis, as well as command and control, flight path and damage control. Astros is the acronym for area saturation artillery rocket system. The implementation of the project began in 2012, and is expected to be completed in 2031. Currently, the Army has 83 Astros vehicles, 44 of which have LMUs (Universal Multiple Launchers).
Photos: Antonio Oliveira