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Brazil: On a shoestring
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| 15 April 2005 |
By Michael Day JDW Special Correspondent
Rio de Janeiro
The Brazilian government's main defence priority is strengthening the state's presence in the Amazon region under the recently re-started Rondon Project. Co-ordinated by the armed forces, this project is intended to re-assert Brazilian control and influence over this remote region which, authorities feel, has been lost to outside influences and international non-governmental organisations.
All three services have suffered a shortfall of funds, affecting training, procurement and operational readiness. A number of programmes have been delayed or cancelled as the government has placed more emphasis on joint ventures, which it hopes will lead to technology transfer and increased local production. Lula's government has set clear objectives to revitalise the country's defence industry and maritime construction and to export successful technology, such as military aircraft.
The Brazilian Army has continued to modernise its conventional forces largely based in the south and southeast of the country, including de-activating outdated motorised infantry battalions and concentrating its resources in armoured infantry battalions.
Particular attention is focused in the areas of jungle warfare, special operations, internal security and peacekeeping. Last year a motorised infantry brigade from Niterói, near Rio de Janeiro, was re-tasked as a jungle infantry brigade and relocated at Cabeça do Cachorro region close to the Colombian border, while the army's nascent Special Operations Brigade, part of the army's Rapid Action Force, has moved to a new headquarters at Goiânia, close to Brazil's capital, Brasília.
The lack of funding for the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) has affected procurement, training and the number of operational flight hours, generating unease and discontent among many senior air force officers. The long-delayed $700 million F-X fighter acquisition programme initiated in 1999 to replace 20 ageing Mirage IIIEBr aircraft was officially cancelled on 22 February this year.
The FAB is now studying alternatives to strengthen its air defence capability until the next-generation fighter is developed.
Brazil's navy is a classic example of a country that has a huge area to protect with scant resources to do it. Financial constraints have made the service's main tasks of patrolling the country's extensive coastline and Amazon basin, providing search-and-rescue capabilities in the South Atlantic and protecting fish stocks particularly difficult.
To undertake these responsibilities, the navy has requested approval for a $2 billion re-equipment plan intended to stretch over the next 16 years.
Since 2000, however, the navy has de-activated nearly 20 of its older ships that are increasingly expensive to operate and for which the navy lacked funds to modernise. The naval commander and other senior naval officers are concerned that relatively young vessels are being placed in reserve and are unlikely to ever get back into active service without a significant investment from the government.
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