Brazilian defense company Avibras presented 2 new variants of the ASTROS II (Artillery SaTuration Rocket System) at the LAAD Defense & Security 2023 expo – the MK6 version with the Tactical Cruise Missile (TCM) capable of neutralizing targets up to 300 km and the AFC modification that has greater firepower and capacity to calculate firing elements.
The ASTROS II was developed in the early 1980’s by Avibras for both Brazilian and export use. It was the first system to offer multiple types of artillery rockets from the same launch system. Brazil was the first country to use the ASTROS II, but the majority of the systems were exported to the Middle East, including Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, for a total of $1 billion.
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Six countries currently operate the system, and a total of 270 units have been produced. According to The Military Balance 2022, Brazil has only 18 ASTROS II MK3M and 18 ASTROS II MK6.
The first adaptation of the ASTROS II MK6 for the TCM was announced in late 2019, when the missile was presented. The AV-TCM has a solid-fuel power plant, a combined guidance system (inertial + GPS), a fuselage length of 5.5 meters, a flight weight of 1400 kg, including a warhead weight of 200 kg. The options for equipping the warhead are either unitary fragmentation-high-explosive or cassette with 64 sub-munitions. Each launcher of the ASTROS II MK6 can currently accommodate two TCMs.
In the spring of 2022, Egypt expressed interest in the ASTROS II MK6 with AV-MTC rockets, but it is unknown whether a purchase contract has been concluded.
The ASTROS II requires a “firing battalion” of 18 systems to operate, along with five support vehicles for fire control. All 18 rocket systems and control vehicles have to be located in a concentrated manner, which significantly reduces survivability, particularly during counter-battery fire.
So Avibras integrated its own automated fire control system into the ASTROS II AFC to solve this problem, which now allows each launcher to be used autonomously, as, for instance, the M142 HIMARS.
Furthermore, the company improved the firepower of the ASTROS II AFC by increasing the number of launcher tubes. For example, the system will be able to launch up to 4 TCMs or 6 SS-150 guided missiles with a firing range of up to 150 km. It is planned to use the T815-790R39 6x6 and T815-7A0R59 4x4 chassis from Tatra instead of the basic Mercedes-Benz 2028A 6x6 chassis.
The ASTROS II has a crew of 3 people, and the missile inventory for this system looks like this:
- SS-09TS - unguided, up to 40 missiles per launcher, firing range up to 10 km;
- SS-30 - unguided, up to 32 missiles per launcher, firing range up to 30 km;
- SS-40G - guided, up to 16 missiles per launcher, firing range up to 40 km;
- SS-60 - unguided, up to 4 missiles per launcher, firing range up to 60 km;
- SS-80G - guided, up to 4 missiles per launcher, firing range up to 90 km.
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