Brazil’s Army Puts Anti-Drone Defense to the Test in Goiás
Brazil · Politics
Key Facts
- —The exercise the Army ran Sagitta Primus 2026, reported as the largest air-defense drill in Latin America.
- —The place it took place at the Campo de Instrução de Formosa, a training ground in Formosa, Goiás.
- —The scale more than 500 soldiers from 23 Army organizations took part, with support from the Brazilian Air Force.
- —The tools crews paired Gepard cannons and machine guns with radio jammers built by Brazilian firms IACIT and AICOX.
- —The goal for the first time, the drill added a dedicated section to detect, jam and shoot down small drones.
For the first time in this drill. Soldiers tried to knock small aircraft out of the sky with both radio jammers and cannon fire.
Brazil’s Army has put anti-drone defense at the center of a major exercise in the state of Goiás. Testing how to detect, jam and shoot down small drones.
The drill, called Sagitta Primus 2026, ran at the Formosa training ground and brought together more than 500 soldiers.
A New Kind of Target Over Formosa
For years, army air defense meant watching for jets and helicopters. This year, the Brazilian Army spent part of a major exercise practicing against something much smaller and much cheaper.
The target was the drone. In Brazilian military language it is called a SARP, short for remotely piloted aircraft system.
And it can be as simple as an off-the-shelf quadcopter. The setting was the Campo de Instrução de Formosa, a large training ground in Formosa, in the state of Goiás.
It is where the Army stages some of its biggest live-fire air-defense work.
What Happened at the Formosa Firing Range
The event was called Sagitta Primus 2026, and coverage described it as the largest air-defense exercise in Latin America. It unfolded in early August 2026.
The Army’s Anti-Aircraft Defense Command, the Comando de Defesa Antiaérea do Exército, led the drill. Its job is to protect troops and key sites from threats in the air.
What made this edition different was a first: a dedicated stretch of the exercise built entirely around countering drones. Soldiers rehearsed spotting the aircraft, then stopping them.
Why Anti-Drone Defense Has Become Urgent
Small drones have quietly changed the math of modern conflict. A device that costs a few hundred dollars can now threaten vehicles, buildings and soldiers worth far more.
That gap is the problem armies everywhere are trying to close. It rarely makes sense to fire an expensive missile at a cheap hobby drone, so forces are hunting for smarter answers.
Brazil is not fighting a war, but it faces the same trend. Criminal groups already use drones to smuggle and to scout, and the Army wants tested methods ready before it needs them.
The Two Ways to Stop a Drone
The exercise leaned on two broad approaches, often called kinetic and non-kinetic. Kinetic means physically hitting the drone, and non-kinetic means disabling it without a shot.
Kinetic answers included cannon fire and machine guns aimed straight at the aircraft. Non-kinetic answers meant jamming the radio signals that keep a drone under a pilot’s control.
The point of the drill was to make those two families work together. A jammer might cut a drone’s link, while a gun crew handles anything that keeps flying.
Jammers That Cut the Signal
Much of the non-kinetic work came down to breaking the invisible link between a drone and its operator. Cut that link, and many drones simply drift, land or fall.
Two jamming systems were named in the reporting: the SCE 0100, from the Brazilian firm IACIT, and the SCJ 2000M, from AICOX. Both are designed to scramble a drone’s control frequencies.
Soldiers also used frequency-interception rifles and signal-analysis towers. Together these let crews find a drone by its radio emissions before deciding how to bring it down.
Guns Still Have a Role
Jamming does not work on every drone, so the Army also fired live rounds. The kinetic side of the drill put older air-defense weapons to a new use.
Crews fired Gepard cannons and. 50-caliber machine guns at aerial targets.
These are proven anti-aircraft tools now being pointed at a much smaller and nimbler kind of threat. The exercise also explored interception drones, meaning small aircraft flown to physically knock down a hostile one.
It is a fast-growing idea in counter-drone work worldwide.
Who Took Part
Sagitta Primus 2026 was a large undertaking rather than a small trial. More than 500 soldiers drawn from 23 Army organizations joined the exercise in Goiás.
The jammers were operated by the 1st Electronic Warfare Battalion, the 1º Batalhão de Guerra Eletrônica. Electronic warfare units specialize in the radio side of the fight.
The Brazilian Air Force also took part, contributing people and equipment. Air defense often crosses service lines, since the sky above a base belongs to no single branch.
Turning a Test Into Doctrine
The counter-drone portion was billed as the first doctrinal experiment of its kind in this exercise series. That framing matters more than it might sound.
The work was coordinated by the Army’s doctrine center, the Centro de Doutrina do Exército, through a dedicated anti-drone section. Doctrine is the written playbook that turns a good idea into standard practice.
By testing tactics under doctrine, the Army can learn what works and then teach it force-wide. A single successful drill becomes a method other units can follow.
Brazilian Industry on the Field
The exercise doubled as a shop window for Brazil’s defense industry. Companies brought equipment to demonstrate under realistic conditions rather than in a showroom.
Alongside the IACIT and AICOX jammers, firms showed off signal-identification and analysis towers and other counter-drone tools. A live drill lets buyers see how the gear performs.
For local makers, a slot at a flagship Army exercise is valuable. It signals that Brazilian-built systems can sit at the heart of the country’s air defense.
What Comes Next
Sagitta Primus 2026 was an experiment, not a finished system, and the Army framed it that way. The results will feed into how Brazil builds its counter-drone playbook.
The clearest takeaway is direction rather than a single headline weapon. The Army is treating cheap drones as a serious threat and layering jammers, guns and sensors to meet it.
For a force that spends most of its time far from open conflict, the drill is a bet on readiness. The aim is to have answers on the shelf before the problem arrives.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Sagitta Primus 2026?
It was a Brazilian Army air-defense exercise held at the Formosa training ground in Goiás in early August 2026. Coverage described it as the largest such drill in Latin America.
Where in Goiás did the test take place?
It was held at the Campo de Instrução de Formosa, a large Army training ground in Formosa, Goiás. The site is used for major live-fire air-defense exercises.
What anti-drone systems did the Army test?
Crews used radio jammers from IACIT and AICOX, frequency-interception rifles and signal-analysis towers. They also fired Gepard cannons and machine guns and explored interception drones.
Why is the Army focusing on drones now?
Cheap small drones have become a real threat to troops and equipment worldwide. Brazil wants tested ways to detect, jam and shoot them down before it needs them.
Sources: Agência Gov (Exército Brasileiro), Folha1, Aeroin, TecnoDefesa.
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