Avibras is considering building a prototype of its newly designed Artillery Saturation Rocket System (ASTROS) III . The company presented its new self-propelled missile- and rocket-launching system in LAAD Defence & Security from April 11 to 14 to numerous foreign delegations, to the commands of the Brazilian Armed Forces and other national and international authorities, resulting in good business prospects. This artillery rocket system is also referred as ASTROS 2020. The development of the ASTROS III was fuelled by the lessons learned from the military conflict in Ukraine, where artillery saturation systems have been in demand and effective. The ASTROS III is a more capable new generation design, developed mainly for export market.
The ASTROS III Avibras Universal Multiple Rocket Launchers (AV-LMU) unit is based on a Tatra Truck’s T 815 – 7T3B41 8×8 high-mobility heavy-duty chassis and will offer increased firepower compared with the 6×6 ASTROS II Mk6 generation. The 8×8 chassis was selected because of increased payload and and enhanced mobility. Vehicle has a fully enclosed armored cab. It is powered by a diesel engine, developing 640 hp. Four hydraulic stabilizers are lowered to the ground to provide more stable firing platform. All launching procedures are made from the inside of the vehicle. Avibras could use an T 815 – 7T3B41 8×8 chassis it has in its inventory to potentially produce the 8×8 ASTROS III AV-LMU launching unit.
The common ASTROS III launcher can take a number of rocket pods with various rockets. It fires five types of rockets and two types of guided missiles: SS-30 127 mm rockets with a maximum range of 30 km (84 rockets carried); SS-40 180 mm rockets with a maximum range of 35 km (40 rockets carried); SS-60 300 mm rockets with a maximum range of 60 km (12 rockets carried); SS-80 300 mm extended-range rockets with a maximum range of 90 km (12 rockets carried); SS-150 newly developed rockets with a claimed maximum range of 150 km (12 rockets carried); FOG-MPM or Fiber Optic Guided Multi-Purpose Missile (40 missiles carried) and AV/MT (AVibras Missil Tactico) or Matador (4 missiles carried)
It is worth mentioning that rockets and missile of the ASTROS III are compatible with the ASTROS II, however new multiple launch rocket system carries significantly more of them. Secondary armament consists 12.7 mm machine gun, mounted on the cab roof. Vehicle is also fitted with smoke grenade dischargers. The ASTROS III also will be available in the new ammunition resupply vehicle configuration, AV-RMD. A battery of launching vehicles has a fire control vehicle and some other associated support vehicles. The new tracking radar used by MK6 AV-UCF was latter revealed to be the Fieldguard 3 Military Measurement System from Rheinmetall Air Defence.
