Breaking News
Expodefensa 2025: MAX 1.2 AC Debuts as Brazil’s Advanced Laser-Guided Anti-Tank Missile System.
Brazil’s MSS 1.2 AC, now branded as MAX 1.2 AC under EDGE licensing, made its international debut at Expodefensa 2025 in Bogotá. The missile matters because it gives Latin American armies an affordable, regionally supported option for countering modern armor and hardened positions.
During Expodefensa 2025 in Bogotá, Latin America’s leading hub for defense and security technologies, the Brazilian-designed MSS 1.2 AC anti-tank missile, now entering service as MAX 1.2 AC, is emerging as one of EDGE Group’s strongest propositions to regional decision-makers. The system reaches the international stage after a lengthy maturation within the Brazilian Army, a recent licensing agreement enabling full-scale production, and its first deployments along sensitive border regions. Beyond expanding the global portfolio of guided missiles, it reflects a Brazilian-Emirati partnership positioned to offer Latin American forces a locally validated, export-ready solution against modern armored threats. For militaries without large tank fleets but facing the need to counter heavy armor and fortified positions, the MSS 1.2 AC stands out as a potential cornerstone of layered land defense.
The MAX 1.2 AC is a Brazilian-designed, EDGE-backed anti-tank missile that pairs man-portable flexibility with a tandem warhead and fire-and-forget guidance for use against modern armor and fortified positions (Picture Source: Army Recognition Group / SIATT)
At its core, the MSS 1.2 AC is a man-portable, surface-to-surface anti-tank missile that can be fired from the ground or integrated on light vehicles, with the entire weapon designed to remain light enough for a two-person team to handle. The ammunition unit, missile inside its launch tube, is about 1,487 mm long, 155 mm in diameter and weighs 24.8 kg, while the missile itself is roughly 1,387 mm long, 130 mm in diameter and around 15.4 kg; the firing post on its low tripod adds a compact 543 mm by 417 mm footprint. In practice, this yields a complete system of about 52 kg that can be dismounted, transported by infantry, or mounted on platforms such as modernized EE-9 Cascavel NG reconnaissance vehicles or future high-mobility anti-tank carriers. Guidance is provided through a laser beam riding / semi-automatic command to line-of-sight (SACLOS) link, with the operator keeping the crosshair on target while the missile “rides” a coded laser beam projected downrange. According to EDGE and SIATT data, the missile is optimized for engagements between 500 m and around 3.2 km, with a single-shot high probability of kill against tanks, armored vehicles, hardened positions and even slow or hovering helicopters, and is designed to interface with thermal imaging systems for all-weather, day-night employment.
The path that brought the MSS 1.2 AC to a major international stage has been long and marked by multiple reinventions. Originally linked to Italy’s MAF program in the 1980s, the missile shifted to full Brazilian stewardship when the partnership ended, passing through several companies as the national defense industry faced a severe downturn in the 1990s. Despite financial and technical setbacks, especially in the guidance chain, Army trials continued and gradually refined the design. Momentum returned when former Mectron engineers created SIATT and relaunched development in 2017 with new resources. This led to pilot deliveries to the Brazilian Army and Marine Corps and, ultimately, to its 2024 licensing for production and export. EDGE’s entry as a strategic partner now gives this decades-long effort the industrial backing and international reach it long lacked.
The operational context that transitioned the system from testing to front-line deployment illustrates the rationale behind its vigorous promotion in Bogotá. In late 2023, amid escalating tensions in the Guyana–Venezuela border dispute and the deployment of T-72 tanks by Caracas, Brasília accelerated the fielding of its MSS 1.2 AC stockpile. Dozens of missiles were dispatched to Roraima to equip jungle infantry units and a newly formed mechanized cavalry regiment, even before final testing documentation was officially completed. In 2024, the Army established a dedicated mechanized anti-tank company integrating both imported Spike LR2 missiles and the domestically produced MAX 1.2 AC. Modernized EE-9 Cascavel NG vehicles were also presented with dual launchers installed on their turrets, demonstrating the system’s versatility as both a dismounted weapon and a long-range asset for armored reconnaissance operations. Meanwhile, the Brazilian Marine Corps incorporated the missile into its arsenal through the expeditionary anti-tank system (SMACE), which combines the MAX 1.2 AC with a modified M1301 Infantry Squad Vehicle and the QX-2 reconnaissance and strike drone. This integration underscores the weapon’s growing role within a broader, networked kill chain leveraging mobile and unmanned platforms. Supporting this ecosystem, a dedicated MSS 1.2 AC simulator, already featured in national defense exhibitions, enhances training efficiency by enabling personnel to develop operational proficiency in a virtual environment prior to live-fire exercises.
On the tactical level, the missile’s advantages are less about raw performance against NATO-level tanks and more about fitting real Latin American operational geometry. A range bracket of roughly 2–3 km is comparable to Javelin-class systems and well suited to the broken terrain, vegetation and urban clutter that often limit sight lines in the region, while keeping the system deliberately lighter and cheaper than longer-range, heavier ATGMs. The beam-riding SACLOS guidance requires the gunner to maintain line of sight until impact, but offers resilience against many common countermeasures, avoids the wire-spool vulnerabilities of older generations, and supports firing from concealed positions or vehicle turrets with only the sight unit exposed. In practice, a two-person team can unpack, set up and engage from a low tripod in minutes, then quickly displace, a pattern that matches Brazilian doctrine for anti-armor ambushes along jungle roads, river approaches or narrow passes. When mounted on platforms like Cascavel NG or the SMACE ISV, the missile extends the reach of light armored and amphibious formations, giving them the ability to threaten heavy armor and hardened positions well beyond the effective range of classic guns or rocket launchers, while QX-2 drones and other sensors feed precise target data into the fire control loop.
The inclusion of MSS 1.2 / MAX 1.2 AC in EDGE’s portfolio at a major Latin American exhibition underscores several strategic developments. For Brazil, it represents the culmination of a three‑decade effort to restore national capabilities in guided anti‑tank systems following the industrial setbacks of the 1990s, addressing a long‑identified shortfall in anti‑armor defenses. For EDGE and the United Arab Emirates, the 50% acquisition of SIATT and the export licensing of the MAX 1.2 AC link Brazilian engineering with Gulf capital, creating a platform to jointly market a family of missiles, from the MANSUP anti‑ship system to land‑based ATGMs, across Latin America and the Middle East. For regional armed forces, the system provides a viable alternative to increasingly constrained U.S. and European supply chains, offering a missile already in Brazilian service and backed by a local industrial base. Globally, the program exemplifies how middle powers leverage long‑running national programs, reinforced by foreign investment, to establish focused competitive positions within the evolving anti‑tank missile market.
The MSS 1.2 AC stands as far more than a new addition to EDGE’s display; it embodies decades of Brazilian development, a licensing framework that enables international export, and a strategic partnership that aligns Latin American operational expertise with Emirati industrial capacity and global market access. As SIATT and the Brazilian Army already plan follow-on versions with extended range to 3–4 km and penetration beyond 1,000 mm, including future fire-and-forget capabilities, the missile’s evolution could transform it from a national solution into a competitive option in a crowded global ATGM field. For regional planners watching the balance between armored forces and light, dispersed units from the Caribbean to the Amazon, the way MAX 1.2 AC is presented and received at Bogotá will be a telling indicator of how far indigenous and partnered missile programs can reshape the Latin American land-combat landscape in the decade ahead.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.