Brazilian Army
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The Brazilian Army is the land arm of the Brazilian Military.
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[edit] History
After the Brazilian declaration of independence from Portugal in 1822, the Brazilian Army was essential to avoid a fragmentation of the new Brazilian Empire. It destroyed any separatist tendencies of the early years, supporting the authority of Emperor Dom Pedro I across his vast empire.
By the Regency Era it was complemented by the National Guard, a paramilitary militia.
On May 1 1865, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina signed the Triple Alliance to defend themselves against aggression from Paraguay, which was ruled by the dictator Francisco López, who invaded the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, the north of Argentina and was heading for Uruguay. Supported by the UK and with overwhelming numbers, the Alliance defeated Lopez.
After World War I, under a contract where French army officers came to Brazil, the Brazilian Army was restructured according to lessons learned by the French in the war.
In 1942, after German torpedoes sunk many Brazilian merchant ships (Although those claims are disputed), Brazil declared war on the Axis Powers. In 1944 the FEB (Brazilian Expeditionary Force) was sent to Italy to fight with the U.S. Fifth Army in Monte Castello. During eight months of the campaign, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force managed to take 20,573 Axis prisoners (two generals, 892 officers and 19,679 other ranks) and had 443 of its men killed in action. It had support from the FAB (Brazilian Air Force) recently created to fight in that war.
In 1964 Brazilian Army General Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco took power in a state coup, beginning the Military Dictatorship in Brazil that lasted until 1985.
[edit] Weapons exports
Beginning in the early 1980s Brazil began finding markets for its newly developed weapons platforms.
Brazil manufactures a wide variety of aircraft and weapons systems that can be found in militaries around the world. Its aircraft manufacturers have benefited from extensive partnerships with English and Italian firms such as BAE and Aeritalia to produce designs such as the Tucano trainer and the AMX fighter/trainer. Brazil's Engesa company also exported its EE line of scout cars and light attack vehicles in the 1980s, including to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
Brazilian attempts to produce a fully indigenous tank led to the development of the Osório tank. The Osório was a very capable weapons platform for its time and initially had strong support from the Brazilian government. With the end of the Cold War however, armies no longer needed to maintain weapons levels of the past 30 years and so tanks such as the Leopard 1 could be purchased at significantly lowered prices. The Osório tank died with the Cold War although it should be noted that the Saudi government announced the purchase of 318 tanks (in a 7.2 billion USD contract). It chose the American made M1A1 as its MBT instead (There is evidence, however, that the United States pressed the Saudi government to buy the Abrams tank after the First Gulf War. Osorio came in first place in every evaluation made by the Saudi Army when competing against M1 Abrams). Brazil also has a large artillery rocket export program and has supplied its Astros line of missiles to nations such as Iran, Iraq, Libya and Cyprus.
[edit] Brazilian military figures
Military branches: Brazilian Army, Brazilian Navy (includes Marines), Brazilian Air Force. Military manpower-military age: 18 years of age
Military manpower-availability: males age 19-49: 45,586,036 females age 19-49: 45,728,704 (2005 est.)
Military manpower-fit for military service: males age 19-49: 33,119,098 females age 19-49: 38,079,722 (2005 est.)
Military manpower-reaching military age annually: males age 18-49: 1,785,930 females age 19-49: 1,731,648 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures-dollar figure: $9.94 billion (2005 est.)
Military expenditures-percent of GDP: 1.3% (2005 est.)
[edit] Modern army
Total armed forces Active: 337,800 (133,500 conscripts). Terms of service: 12 months (can be extended by 6 months). Reserves: trained first-line: 1,115,000; 400,000 subject to immediate recall. Second-line: 225,000. 220,000 (incl 126,500 conscripts);
HQ: 7 Military Comd, 12 Military Regions.; 8 div (3 with Region HQ); 1 armd cav bde (mech, 1 armd, 1 arty bn); 3 armd inf bde (each 2 inf, 1 armd, 1 arty bn); 4 mech cav bde (each 3 inf, 1 arty bn). 12 motor inf bde (26 bn); 1 mtn bde; 2 "jungle" bde (7 bn); 1 frontier bde (6 bn); and others.
[edit] Equipment
Tanks: 128 Leopard tank 1A1, 91 M-60A3, 240 Leopard tank 1A5
Recon: 409 EE-9 Cascavel, 30 M-8;
APC: 823: EE-11 Urutu, 20 M-59, 584 M-113
Towed Artillery: 377: 105 mm: 285, incl M-101/M-102, Model 56 pack; 155 mm: 92 M114
SP Artillery : 72 M-7/M-108 105 mm, 36 M-109
155 mm
Coastal Artillery: some 240 incl 57 mm, 75 mm, 120 mm, 150 mm, 152 mm, 305 mm.
MRL: 108 mm: SS-06; 108 mm: SS-40; 300 mm: SS-60 incl SP 4 ASTROS II
Mortars: 81 mm; 107 mm: 209 M-30; 120 mm: 77;
ATGW: 300 Cobra;
RCL: 57 mm: 240 M-18A1; 75 mm: 20 M-20; 105 mm; 106 mm: M-40A1
AD Guns: 20 mm; 35 mm: 39 GDF-001; 40 mm: 103 L-60/L-70 (some with BOFI)
Rifles: IMBEL MD2, FN FAL 7,62mm
[edit] Aircraft inventory
The Army operates 82 helicopters, of which the 16 Helibras HB 350 represent the only Brazilian-produced aircraft.
| Aircraft | Origin | Type | Versions | In service[1] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurocopter Cougar |  France |
transport helicopter | AS 532UE | 8 | |
| Eurocopter Fennec | France |
scout/liaison helicopter | AS 550A-2 | 20 | |
| Eurocopter Panther | France |
scout/attack helicopter | AS 365K | 34 | |
| Helibras HB 350 |  Brazil |
utility helicopter | HB 350-1 | 16 | |
| Sikorsky S-70 |  United States |
transport helicopter | S-70A | 4 |
[edit] References
- ^ "World Military Aircraft Inventory", Aerospace Source Book 2007, Aviation Week & Space Technology, January 15, 2007.
