Munitions and Components for Brazilian Army

On 9 August the IMBEL factory at Juiz de For a, Brazil, celebrated 86 years of providing mission-critical munitions and components to the Brazilian armed forces.

The factory is the exclusive supplier of ammunition to the land forces in Brazil and forms part of the Army’s Science and Technology Systems, having been established in 1934 under the name of the Artillery Case and Fuze Collection. During the Second World War, the factory progressed to the manufacture of a range of infantry and artillery ammunition for the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, a 26,000-strong body that served alongside allied forces in the Mediterranean theatre of operations.

Today, the factory employs its own proprietary technology to manufacture munitions and components meeting quality standards such NBR ISO 9001: 2015 and AQAP 21220 for aerospace weapons, rockets and ammunition from 40-155mm calibre, plus appropriate packaging.

The factory seeks a measure of future independence from IMBEL and is intent on modernizing its industrial processes – particularly for loading and assembly of munitions – reinforcing the production chain and nationalizing critical inputs in line with the plan for a national industrial defence base.