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Brazilian Marine Corps
The Brazilian Marine Corps, which numbers some 14,500 officers and men is, unlike the other services, purely a volunteer outfit. Brazilian Marines are highly professional and use almost entirely domestically manufactured weapons, from assault rifles through artillery to armored personnel carriers (APCs). They are organized into one small amphibious division (five battalions) and specialized groups, including one security company at each major naval
base. Small jungle warfare battalions are stationed at various bases deep in the Amazon.
While they still maintain some aging U. S. tracked landing vehicles, they have adopted the amphibious variant of the highly successful EE-11 Urutu APC, which is qualified for open sea swimming. Some of these Brazilian-designed and manufactured (and much-exported) APCs have turret-mounted 20-mm. Oer- likons, and some have a locally made 90-mm. long gun. The
marines also use EE-9 Cascavel fast (and air-conditioned) armored cars, most of which are armed with the 90-mm. cannons. The marines also widely use 12-round SS-15 127-mm. artillery rockets (an adaptation of the SBAT-127) and locally produced (under West German license) Cobra 2000 antitank missiles. A variety of the navy’s helicopters suited to counterinsurgency duties are currently in use by the Brazilian Marines.
Dr. John H. Williams
turbo-electric drive, might well be in service by 2010.
The navy has plans for a carrier program that might include a 13,000-15,000-ton sea control ship, operating 15-20 helicopters in ASW and assault roles, plus a 32,000-35,000-ton attack carrier, with an air group of 35-40 conventional fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Conversion of a merchant-type hull is a distinct possibility, at least for the smaller ship. However, no carrier is to be ordered before 1991, and the larger ship, if built, would not see service until well into the next century.
Brazil has demonstrated little interest in vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) aircraft, and its navy is likely to remain solely helicopter-configured for the remainder of the twentieth century. Meanwhile, the Brazilian Air Force is to receive a land-based maritime strike version of the Aeritalia/Aermacchi/Embraer AM-X, armed with antiship missiles (probably an air-to-surface version of the SM-70 Barracuda), ten additional Embraer EMB-111 Bandeirante maritime surveillance aircraft, and an ASW patrol version of the EMB-120 Brasilia commuter transport. The AC-X (or FX), a supersonic fighter with Mach 2 capability, is to be developed by Embraer, with one or more international partners. A shipboard version of the AC-X, able to operate from the newly proposed attack carrier, might be in service by 2000.
Presently, a carrier construction program is unlikely until the future of naval aviation in Brazil is clarified. In addition, more urgent needs must first be satisfied. Naval shipbuilding costs are extremely high, and because of that, the shipbuilding program for the Brazilian Navy has been subject to frequent cancellations and delays. Brazil is a successful arms exporter, and its shipbuilding industry is able to produce a variety of naval vessels, including combatants up to frigate size and major auxiliary types. Building additional warships for export in Brazilian yards would be a way of achieving an economy of scale, thus reducing the procurement costs and building time of new navy ships.
Another idea that has been receiving some attention in
Brazil is the conversion of merchant vessels to support naval and military operations. A number of commercial ship designs can easily be converted into V/STOL carriers, and into amphibious assault, mine warfare, mobile logistics, and support ships. At least one Brazilian private design bureau, Engenavi, is reportedly developing a family of modular systems to allow merchant vessels to be easily modified for military use.
Last November, Brazil and Argentina signed a number of bilateral agreements that might soon increase defense industrial cooperation. However, a formal military industrial cooperation agreement was not signed. Argentina has bought the Embraer EMB-312 Tucano turboprop trainer, and the EMB-123 Parana twin-turboprop is to be jointly developed by Embraer and Argentina’s FMA (Fabric^ Militar de Aviones). Cooperation in warship design and construction might include binational carrier and nuclear submarine programs. Both countries could achieve greater standardization and, thus, lower acquisition costs through joint production.
In October 1986, the General Assembly of the United Nations declared the South Atlantic to be “a zone of peace and cooperation.” This declaration was a product of Brazilian diplomatic efforts. In order to defend its growing interests and its sovereignty at sea, however, Brazil need* a navy with blue water capability, not an exercise in rhetoric. The Brazilian defense budget is kept under $2 billi011 (less than 1% of the gross national product), of which 25% is normally allocated to the navy. This situation is unlikely to change for the rest of the decade. Consequently’ modernization of the Brazilian Navy will still have to wait.
Eduardo Italo Pesce is assistant editor of the Seguranca & Defesa maga zine and an instructor of English at Rio de Janeiro State University ' Brazil. He is a founder of the Brazilian Center for Strategic Studies and frequent contributor to the International Navies Issue of Proceeding'
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Proceedings / March