Brazilian Defense Equipment Exporters (2026)

Brazil’s defense industrial base exported $3.1 billion in products and services in 2025, a 74% jump from the $1.78 billion recorded in 2024, according to Janes. That two-year cumulative growth of roughly 110% has pushed Brazilian defense equipment into approximately 140 countries. For manufacturers of radar systems, armored vehicles, ammunition, and tactical platforms, the export pipeline has never been wider. The question is how to keep filling it.

Who Builds Defense Equipment in Brazil

Brazil’s defense sector is broader than most outsiders realize. Some 307 companies hold accreditation with the government’s defense export authority, offering roughly 2,219 classified products, per Janes. About 80 of those companies actively export. Here are the ones shaping the market.

Embraer Defense & Security

Embraer is the headline act. The C-390 Millennium military transport aircraft has accumulated 42 firm orders across Brazil, Portugal, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, South Korea, Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Uzbekistan. Portugal expanded its fleet to six aircraft. Sweden ordered four under a joint European procurement framework with Austria and the Netherlands, including seven additional options.

The A-29 Super Tucano light attack and training aircraft continues to sell. Panama received four units in 2025, and Sierra Nevada Corporation in the United States placed orders for additional airframes. Embraer’s defense order book reached $4.6 billion in 2025.

IACIT

IACIT, headquartered in Sao Jose dos Campos, has become Brazil’s radar specialist. The company developed and operates the OTH 0100, the first over-the-horizon radar built and deployed in South America, capable of tracking vessels up to 200 nautical miles from shore. In April 2025, the Brazilian Air Force contracted IACIT to develop the next-generation OTH 0200 Skywave radar, with detection ranges up to 3,000 kilometers. That contract consolidated IACIT as the only Brazilian company developing this class of advanced radar technology.

Avibras

Avibras produces the ASTROS (Artillery Saturation Rocket System), a multiple launch rocket system operated by six countries including Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia. The company unveiled the upgraded ASTROS III at LAAD Defence & Security in 2023, featuring a 300-kilometer range tactical cruise missile variant. Avibras entered discussions with Black Storm Military Industries of Saudi Arabia in early 2025 for investment aimed at financial recovery and continued production.

Condor Non-Lethal Technologies

Condor is the global leader in non-lethal weapons systems, exporting over 160 products to more than 80 countries across all continents, according to Condor’s company profile. The product line includes rubber projectiles, tear gas systems, impact grenades, electroshock devices, and pyrotechnic signaling equipment. In May 2024, Abu Dhabi-based EDGE Group acquired a 51% stake in Condor. The deal gave EDGE access to Condor’s production capabilities and global distribution, while Condor gained capital for R&D expansion.

Taurus Armas

Taurus is Brazil’s primary small arms manufacturer, exporting firearms to around 80 countries. The company produced 922,000 firearms in 2024. Exports to markets outside the United States grew 25% in 2024, partially offsetting softer US demand, and the domestic Brazilian market grew 11.7% in 2025.

Where the Buyers Are

The geography of Brazilian defense exports has shifted. Germany, Bulgaria, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Portugal rank as the top five importers of Brazilian defense products. But the real story is diversification.

Europe has become the growth engine. The C-390 procurement consortium linking the Netherlands, Austria, and Sweden created a template for multi-nation European defense acquisition. Portugal and Hungary were early adopters and now serve as operational references for other NATO members evaluating the platform.

The Middle East remains a core market. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar have historically purchased ASTROS rocket systems and non-lethal equipment. EDGE’s acquisition of Condor strengthened the UAE-Brazil defense industrial link.

Asia-Pacific is where the next wave of orders is forming. South Korea signed for C-390 Millennium aircraft and formalized an MOU with Embraer at ADEX 2025 to deepen industrial cooperation. Uzbekistan joined the C-390 operator base. Indonesia operates ASTROS batteries purchased in batches since 2012.

The Economic Weight of Defense Exports

The numbers go beyond export revenue. Brazil’s defense sector contributes 3.49% of GDP and supports approximately 2.9 million direct and indirect jobs, per data reported by DatamarNews. The government has set self-sufficiency targets of 55% in strategic technologies (radars, satellites, rockets) by 2025 and 75% by 2033, up from 42% currently.

National Secretary Heraldo Luiz Rodrigues stated that the government plays “a key role in supporting defense exports, including fostering technological development for next-generation products.” That institutional backing, combined with ABIMDE (the Brazilian Defense Industry Association) coordinating trade promotion, creates a baseline of support that few competing defense exporters in the Southern Hemisphere can match.

Why Traditional Sales Channels Are Losing Ground

Brazilian defense equipment manufacturers face a paradox: the global appetite for their products is growing, but the conventional ways of reaching buyers are getting more expensive and less effective.

Defense Trade Fairs: High Cost, Narrow Reach

The big defense exhibitions still attract decision-makers. LAAD Defence & Security in Rio de Janeiro drew 359 exhibitors in 2025. IDEX in Abu Dhabi hosted 1,565 exhibitors from 65 countries. Eurosatory in Paris gathered over 2,000 exhibitors in 2024. But participation costs are brutal.

A mid-size booth at IDEX or Eurosatory runs $50,000 to $200,000 when you factor in space rental, booth construction, travel for a technical team, accommodation, and logistics for equipment displays. For a Brazilian company sending a delegation from Sao Jose dos Campos to Abu Dhabi or Paris, add international flights and weeks of preparation. Cost per qualified lead: $300 to $900+. And you get a handful of days to make an impression on buyers who visited 1,500 other booths the same week.

Government-to-Government Channels

Defense sales often flow through government-to-government agreements, offset programs, and diplomatic relationships. These channels work for flagship programs like the C-390. They do not work for mid-tier companies selling radar components, communications equipment, protective gear, or ammunition. The smaller manufacturer waits for inclusion in a government trade delegation, gets a brief introduction, and then has no infrastructure for sustained follow-up across multiple countries.

Field Sales Representatives

Hiring a defense-sector business development manager who understands military procurement, speaks the buyer’s language, and holds the right security clearances costs $120,000 to $250,000 per year in total compensation for European or Middle Eastern territories. Covering five target markets means $600,000 to $1.25 million in fixed payroll before a single contract materializes. Cost per qualified lead: $500 to $1,200+.

Distributor and Agent Networks

Defense agents and representatives in target countries take commissions of 5% to 15% on contract value. They own the relationship with the end customer. When the agent switches to a competing manufacturer offering a better commission, the Brazilian company loses market access overnight. There is no direct visibility into the procurement pipeline, no control over messaging, and no data on why deals stall.

Cold Outreach Across Languages and Cultures

Cold calling a procurement officer at a European ministry of defense or an Asian military command requires native-language capability, deep understanding of military procurement cycles, and credibility signals that a generic outreach campaign cannot provide. Scaling this across five or ten target countries is financially impractical for most mid-size Brazilian defense manufacturers.

The Buying Committee in Defense Procurement

Defense equipment purchases are among the most committee-driven B2B transactions that exist. According to Gartner’s research on B2B buying, modern buying groups include 6 to 10 decision-makers, each entering the process with four to five pieces of independent research.

In defense procurement, that committee typically includes a procurement or acquisition officer managing budget allocation and offset requirements, a technical evaluator assessing performance specifications and interoperability, a logistics officer evaluating spare parts availability and supply chain reliability, an operational commander focused on field performance and training, a legal or compliance officer reviewing export control documentation, and a finance officer modeling total cost of ownership over 15 to 25 year lifecycles.

A trade fair booth reaches the procurement officer. Maybe the technical evaluator stops by too. But the logistics officer, the operational commander, the compliance team, and the finance officer are all forming opinions back at headquarters based on whatever information they find on their own. In a sector where a single contract can run into hundreds of millions of dollars, that gap between who you reach and who actually decides is where deals die.

How AI-Powered Outbound Changes the Math

Brazilian defense equipment exporters need to reach more decision-makers in more countries without multiplying their sales costs at the same rate. AI-powered outbound solves for that.

Multi-Threaded Engagement

Instead of reaching one procurement contact, AI outbound identifies and engages multiple stakeholders across the buying committee. The acquisition officer receives messaging about lifecycle costs and delivery terms. The technical evaluator gets performance specifications and interoperability documentation. The logistics officer sees spare parts networks and maintenance support infrastructure. Each message is tailored to the recipient’s role and their organization’s specific operational context.

Signal-Based Timing

AI systems detect procurement signals that indicate buying windows: published defense budget allocations, fleet modernization announcements, interoperability mandates from alliance partners, and equipment retirement schedules. Reaching the right person during an active procurement cycle is worth more than a hundred contacts outside one.

The Scalability Advantage

Channel	Cost per Qualified Lead	Scalability
Defense trade fairs (LAAD, IDEX, Eurosatory)	$300 to $900+	Linear: more events, proportionally more cost
Field sales / BD managers	$500 to $1,200+	Worse than linear: each hire adds salary with diminishing territory returns
Defense agents / representatives	Variable (5-15% commission)	Scales but eliminates customer visibility and data
AI-powered outbound	$150 to $300	Improves over time: better targeting, lower cost per lead at scale

The first 500 prospects cost more per lead than the second 500. The system learns which messaging resonates with which roles, which countries respond to which value propositions, and which timing patterns align with procurement cycles. Trade fairs and field reps have a cost ceiling. AI outbound has a compounding floor.

Getting Started

Nobody is saying to skip LAAD or IDEX. Trade fairs still matter for relationship building. Government-to-government channels still drive flagship contracts. But between those events, your pipeline goes cold unless you have a system running in the background.

Here is what that looks like in practice. Start by picking three to five countries where you have operational references or where active procurement programs match your product type. Pull the organizational charts for the defense acquisition agencies in those countries. Build a contact map that covers procurement, technical evaluation, logistics, compliance, and finance roles. Then prepare role-specific content: lifecycle cost comparisons for the finance officer, interoperability test results for the technical evaluator, spare parts logistics data for the logistics officer. Launch campaigns where each stakeholder receives information relevant to their piece of the decision. Track which roles respond, which countries engage, and which messaging drives conversations forward. Double down on what works.

At papaverAI, we build AI-powered growth engines for B2B manufacturers. We handle the infrastructure, targeting, and personalization so your defense technology teams focus on what they do best: building the products. Get in touch to discuss how this applies to your specific product portfolio and target markets.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much did Brazil export in defense products in 2025?

Brazil’s defense industrial base exported $3.1 billion in products and services in 2025, a 74% increase over the $1.78 billion recorded in 2024, according to Janes. Top export categories included fixed-wing aircraft (led by the C-390 Millennium and A-29 Super Tucano), ammunition, tactical trucks, radar systems, and command-and-control equipment. Exports reached approximately 140 countries.

Which countries buy the most Brazilian defense equipment?

Germany, Bulgaria, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Portugal are the five largest importers of Brazilian defense products. Europe has become the fastest-growing region, driven by the C-390 Millennium procurement consortium linking the Netherlands, Austria, and Sweden. South Korea and Uzbekistan represent growing Asia-Pacific demand.

What are Brazil’s main defense export products?

The product range spans aircraft (C-390 Millennium, A-29 Super Tucano), rocket systems (ASTROS), radar and surveillance systems (IACIT), non-lethal weapons (Condor), small arms (Taurus), ammunition, armored vehicles, cybersecurity solutions, and communications equipment. About 2,219 classified defense products are available from 307 accredited Brazilian companies.

How can Brazilian defense manufacturers find new international buyers?

Traditional channels like defense trade fairs cost $300 to $900+ per qualified lead. Field sales representatives cost $500 to $1,200+ per lead and scale poorly across multiple geographies. AI-powered outbound reaches entire buying committees for $150 to $300 per qualified lead, with costs that decrease as the system learns. Read more about Brazil’s manufacturing export landscape and how papaverAI’s growth engine works.

How large is Brazil’s defense industrial base?

The sector contributes 3.49% of GDP and supports roughly 2.9 million direct and indirect jobs. Some 307 companies hold government accreditation for defense exports, with about 80 actively exporting. The government targets 75% self-sufficiency in strategic defense technologies by 2033, up from 42% today.

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Looking to reach defense equipment buyers in new markets? Contact papaverAI to build an outbound engine tailored to your product portfolio and target geographies.