Fórum Defesa Brasil

Mectron MAR-1 Missiles: Camex Approves Guarantee for Sale to Pakistan


(Source: Agencia Estado wire service; issued Dec. 2, 2008)


(Issued in Portuguese only; unofficial translation by defense-aerospace.com)



Brazil’s Câmara de Comércio Exterior (Foreign Trade Chamber, Camex) today approved the guarantees of the Union for the supply of 100 missiles by the firm Mectron to the government of the Pakistan. Camex is a department of Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, and oversees the export financing and guarantee committee (Comitê de Financiamento e Garantia às Exportações, COFIG).

According to Minister of Defense Nelson Jobim, the contract between Mectron, the Pakistani government and the Brazilian Air Force was signed in April of this year, and was conditional on the government’s extending its export guarantee. According to Jobim, Mectron will receive 85 million euros for this export contract.

Jobim added that the contract is highly significant for Mectron, which will be able to increase its production rate from one to five missiles per month. “It will also multiply by five the company’s manpower and know-how,” he said.

Mectron is a small, high-technology company set up by five engineers from the Technological Institute of Aeronáutica (Aerospace engineering institute, ITA), but has the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) as partner.

Jobim said that the missiles being exported are anti-radiation weapons that identify the radars they detect while on board the aircraft, and can also destroy them. “They are also a very effective way of monitoring of the ground and of airspace,” Jobim said.

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