Next week, 240 US military representatives from the 101st Air Assault Division (101st Airborne Division) will arrive in Brazil for joint training with Brazilian forces from the Airmobile Brigade in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The American military will practice with Brazilian troops a military maneuver known as “airmobile assault”, where infantry fighters are dropped by helicopter in the combat scenario – most of the time behind enemy lines. This tactic marked the Vietnam War. This is just one of the scheduled trainings.
The current exercise is called CORE 21 (Combined Operations and Rotation Exercise). It should happen every year, alternating cities in Brazil and the United States, at least until 2028.
The idea is to increase the integration between Brazilian and American forces. In fact, we are dealing here with military diplomacy, a state action that takes place regardless of the pro-American inclination of the Jair Bolsonaro administration, according to an Army High Command source.
In other words, although the government is in favor of this type of military integration with the US, it would possibly happen regardless of the president’s inclination. But Bolsonaro’s appetite for military issues and his relationship with former US President Donald Trump may have eased the process.
The Psol even filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court asking for the training to be cancelled. The party claimed that he would be “a threat” to Brazil and Latin America. The request was denied by the STF.
Joint training has been taking place since the 1960s. And they have been quite intense since at least 2017, when the US participated in the Amazon simulation of the creation of a logistical base to receive refugees. Less than a year later, thousands of Venezuelan refugees began to cross the border and what used to be exercise became “for real” with Operation Welcome.
This time, Brazil will participate with 750 soldiers from the 5 BIL (Light Infantry Battalion) in Lorena (SP). Super Puma/Cougar and Panther helicopters from the Army Aviation Command in Taubaté will also be used. The Americans will bring weapons and equipment, but not helicopters.
The operations will take place in the cities of Lorena and Cachoeira Paulista, in São Paulo, and Resende, in Rio de Janeiro. The Americans will arrive between the 28th of November and the 1st of December. But the training will be between December 6th and 16th.
The choice of the 5 BIL and the 101st Airborne had at least two reasons. The first is that both are “Rapid Action Forces” – the first to take action in the event of a conflict.
In Brazil, these forces receive more equipment and training. In addition to the Airmobile Brigade and the Army Aviation Command, both from São Paulo, the Parachute Brigade of Rio de Janeiro and the Special Operations Brigade of Goiânia are also rapid action forces (the last two will not participate in the exercise).
The second reason is that both are light troops: it would be logistically more complicated to send, for example, heavy armored units from the United States to Brazil.
Units with history
The 101st Airborne Division, or “Screaming Eagles,” was created in 1942. Its members were the first American fighters to set foot in Normandy on D-Day of World War II by parachuting .
Then they fought important battles, such as Ardenes and Bagstone. The saga was told in the Hollywood miniseries “Band of Brothers”. The 101st Airborne also fought in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the 5 BIL of the current Aeromobile Brigade also has a history. Its origins date back to the Paraguayan War and go through the action in the Brazilian Expeditionary Force in Italy. In his current formation, he played a key role in 2005 in the Haiti Peace Mission.
No country reveals valuable military secrets in this type of exercise. But it serves as a “best practice” reference for Brazil to improve its military doctrine. The 101st Airborne is one of the most engaged divisions of the US Army in battle.
The training also makes it easier for the forces of the two countries to act together in future missions – which could be war or humanitarian aid, as occurred in Haiti in the 2010 earthquake.
Brazil won more than 140 US armor in the last six years
Cooperation with the US goes beyond training. Since 2016, Brazil has received 144 armored vehicles as a donation, which were no longer being used by the Americans because they had them in excess.
Between 2016 and 2017, 12 M113 armored vehicles were used to transport troops, dating from the Vietnam War. Vehicles of this type came into action in the Complexo do Salgueiro in the federal intervention in Rio in 2018. Driven by “catworm”, they adapted well to the forested terrain that criminals used to try to escape the complex of favelas.
Perhaps the reader saw them at a parade in front of the Planalto Palace in August. Modernized, the M113 remains a very versatile armored vehicle today, according to analysts.
In 2018, there were 60 M109 howitzers (a type of artillery cannon that works in an armored vehicle) and 40 armored vehicles carrying M992 ammunition. In 2019, another 32 M109 were shipped, according to Army information.
These donations are part of an American program to militarily help friendly nations. Brazil paid for the packaging, transport and modernization. Equipment that comes under this agreement is sometimes later transferred to neighboring nations, such as Uruguay.
The Armed Forces even considered receiving a contingent of Humvee vehicles, widely used by the US in missions in the Middle East. They would be used in a possible peace mission in Africa, but neither the agreement nor the mission materialized.
But Brazil does not base its military capabilities on these donations. Without the Humvees, the country chose to buy similar Italian Iveco products, called Lince.
In parallel, Brazil is also investing in a program to purchase modern armored vehicles for transporting troops, the Guarani. And in the artillery area, the main vehicle is the Avibras Astros II rocket and missile launcher, which is exported to Middle Eastern countries, such as Qatar.
Understand US-Brazil military diplomacy
Military cooperation between Brazilians and Americans dates back to World War II, with the construction of allied bases in Brazil and the campaign against Nazi forces in Italy, among other actions.
In more recent years, American military diplomacy had turned to South America with a specific objective: the war on drugs. The idea was to make countries like Brazil use military resources to fight guerrillas and criminal factions that operate drug trafficking and other illicit activities. Colombia has become a great partner for the US in this task.
Brazil gives police power to military personnel on the border, has carried out numerous operations to combat illegal activities, but has never fully adhered to the American project for the armed forces of South America.
In the administration of American President Donald Trump, Brazil gained the status of an extra-NATO ally (Western military alliance), a condition that facilitates the purchase of American equipment and the carrying out of exercises such as the one that will take place in December. It also facilitates the financing of exports of military products from Brazil and participation in bids.
The next step in gaining access to more equipment and a market would be for Brazil to become a global NATO partner. Trump signaled that possibility, but Joe Biden’s government has been conditioning the status to the trade dispute with China.
In other words, to gain the benefit, Brazil would have to exclude the Chinese company Huawei from the national 5G internet market. That hasn’t happened yet.
Although the company did not participate in the 5G auction earlier this month, it is a major technology and equipment supplier to the companies that won the auction. Excluding Huawei, which already supplies material for 3G and 4G technologies, would cost billions of dollars, according to national operators. It remains to be seen how Brazil will behave in the scenario that some analysts have been calling Cold War 2.0.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/why-does-the-us-train-with-the-brazilian-army-and-donate-armor/
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