After winning an international dispute and expanding the maritime area under Brazilian jurisdiction by around 360 thousand km², the federal government will finance the development of a system with artificial intelligence to reinforce the monitoring of the so-called Blue Amazon.
The project, called MANTA, will be led by IACIT, a strategic defense company based in São José dos Campos, and will have R$49 million in resources from Finep. The consortium responsible for the initiative will also make a contribution of R$12 million.
The technology will be aimed at long-range surveillance of the Brazilian continental shelf, including areas that extend beyond 200 nautical miles.
The proposal is to combine sensing, signal processing and artificial intelligence to detect, track and identify targets in complex maritime environments.
The investment occurs amid Brazil’s effort to transform the expansion recognized by the UN (United Nations) in 2025 into practical inspection capacity. The additional area is approximately equivalent to the territory of Germany and expanded the space in which the country has rights over natural resources in the marine subsoil.
The Blue Amazon is considered strategic by the Navy because it concentrates commercial routes, energy reserves, mineral resources, biodiversity and sensitive infrastructure.
The region has also been the target of military concern. In 2023, the Navy ordered a German ship to interrupt unauthorized research activities in the Rio Grande elevation, an area of interest for its mineral potential.
The episode reinforced the alert within the Armed Forces about the need to monitor areas far from the Brazilian coast.
MANTA will have a range of more than 350 nautical miles and will be able to support inspection, maritime security, environmental protection and combating illicit activities, such as illegal fishing, trafficking and other transnational threats.
In addition to IACIT, Orbital Engenharia, Polidesign Indústria e Comércio, the Navy Technological Center in Rio de Janeiro, the ITA Space Center and the Electronic Engineering Division of the Aeronautical Technological Institute are participating in the project.
The Navy’s Director of Program Management, Vice Admiral Marcelo da Silva Gomes, stated that the technology will be especially important for monitoring the northern portion of the country.
“IACIT’s MANTA initiative will enable the country to have a very high-range system, exceeding 350 nautical miles, essential for monitoring mainly the northern portion of the country, a strategic area,” he stated.
