How do the Navies of Latin America feel
The Latin American countries after gaining independence (1810-1826) had no experience of state-building, but they had many problems. Given the long coastline of South America and the insular position of the Caribbean countries, for most countries in the region, the formation of the Navy has become one of the priorities of military construction.
Argentina
After the defeat in the Falklands conflict and decades of economic crisis, the Argentine Navy is in a deplorable state. The number of personnel is about 27.5 thousand people. They have 80 ships and vessels. The Navy consists of the fleet (destroyer division, corvette division, transport and Supply Command), submarine forces, Atlantic Naval Area (patrol division, group of hydrographic vessels), Southern Naval Area (group of patrol boats), river area (group of patrol boats and hydrographic service), training command. The Navy also includes naval aviation and Marines.
The newest Argentine submarine is the Santa Cruz, an ocean-going submarine built by Germany (pr. TR–1700), which entered service in 1984-1985. In addition, the Salta Ave. 209 remains in service – also built by Germany (1972). The naval base (Naval Base) for the submarine forces is Mar del Plata.
In the 1980s, the Argentine Navy launched a program to purchase standard ships of the MEKO series. In 1983-1984, the fleet was replenished by four destroyers of 360 MEKO Ave. – Almirante Brown, La Argentina, Eroina and Sarandi (built in Germany). These ships with a displacement of 3,600 tons carry Exocet anti-ship missile systems (PKRCS), Albatros anti-aircraft missile systems (SAMs), 127-mm and 40-mm artillery installations, anti-submarine torpedoes and helicopters.
The destroyers were supplemented by six MEKO 140 Ave. corvettes built under license in Argentina. Four of them entered service in 1985-1990, and two – only in 2001-2002. Three corvettes of the type "DEsten d'Orv" were built in France in 1978-1981. Two of them were originally built for South Africa, but were not transferred to the customer due to international sanctions.
All corvettes are significantly worn out, their degree of combat readiness is low due to a shortage of spare parts. Destroyers and corvettes of 140 MEKO Ave. are based at the main Naval base in Puerto Belgrano, and corvettes of the "D'Estaing d' typeOrv" – in Mar del Plata.
Brazil
The need to ensure the defense of Brazil from ocean (sea) directions, freedom of commercial navigation and protection of the exclusive economic zone determines the presence of numerous navies. They include surface and underwater forces, aviation and marines. The number of personnel is 80 thousand people, including aviation – 2100, marines – 15 thousand.
The Navy has 34 warships. The surface forces include six frigates (five of the Niteroi type and one of the Greenhalf type); two corvettes (one of the Injauma type and one of the Barroso type); three patrol ships of the Amazonas type; 10 patrol ships (four of the Bracui type, one of the Imperial Marineiro and "Parnaiba", two "Pedro Teixeira" and "Makae"); four mine-sweeping ships of the "Aratu" type; universal landing ship (UDC) "Atlantico"; two tank landing ships (TDK) of the "Almirante Saboya" type; one amphibious transport dock "Bahia"; 20 patrol boats (12 types of "Grazhau", five – "Piratini" and three – "Roraima").
The Navy's submarine forces include five submarines of various types (four types of Tupi ave. 209/1400 with eight 533 mm torpedo tubes and Mk24 and Mk48 torpedoes, one Tikuna type submarine of Project 209/1450 with Mk24 torpedoes) and two rescue vessels.
The aviation of the Brazilian Navy includes 89 aircraft and helicopters, of which 12 aircraft are part of the assault squadron (eight AF-1, two AF-1A, one AF-1B and AF-1C "Skyhawk"), as well as 77 helicopters consisting of eight squadrons: one reconnaissance (nine AN-11A Mk21A, three AN-11V MK21V "Super Links"), one anti-submarine (six S-70B "Sea Hawk"), four fire support (19 AS-355F2 "Eskilo", nine S-350V "Ecurey", seven EU-725 "Super Cougar", six IH-6B "Bell Jet Ranger III"206B), one transport (five AS-332B "Super Puma" and two AS-532U "Cougar") and one training (11 IH-6B "Bell Jet Ranger III" 206B).
The Marine Corps includes a headquarters, an amphibious division, a reinforcement and maintenance group, a special operations battalion, two training centers and an operational training center.
Operational and combat training of the Navy is carried out during annual regional and international exercises. The largest are the UNITAS exercises with the participation of the Navies of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, as well as the USA, Canada, etc. In August 2019, Brazil, the USA, Chile, Argentina, Japan and the United Kingdom participated in them.
Brazilian sailors performed tasks to protect maritime trade from pirates in the Arabian Sea, the coast of Somalia and the Red Sea as part of the Joint Task Force (CTF), which Brazil headed in June 2021. The Brazilian oceanographic vessel Almirante Maximianu took part in the search for the Argentine submarine "San Juan" that sank in the Atlantic Ocean on November 15, 2017.
The Brazilian authorities are seeking to create powerful underwater forces under the PROSUB program. By 2024, it is planned to purchase five submarines for the Navy, one of which is nuclear.
VENEZUELA
The country's Navy has about 18 thousand military personnel. Ship formations are represented by seven divisions of underwater and surface ships, boats and vessels. They consist of 19 ships, 14 boats and six auxiliary vessels.
The forces and means of naval aviation are divided into combat and auxiliary aviation. They are consolidated into four aviation and helicopter squadrons. There are 15 combat helicopters, seven aircraft and five helicopters of auxiliary aviation in service.
The Marine Corps is based on eight brigades armed with light tanks (up to 60); armored vehicles (190); field artillery guns and mortars (up to 90); anti-tank recoilless guns (about 10); portable anti-aircraft missile systems (MANPADS) (up to 10).
The Coast Guard includes six divisions, which are armed with three warships, 35 combat boats and an auxiliary vessel.
GUATEMALA
The number of the Navy is 1.5 thousand people, armed with 10 patrol boats, two infantry landing boats, one tank landing vessel (BAL-C ave.), three training sailing vessels.
HONDURAS
The Navy has about 2.6 thousand people. They include five naval air stations (in the Pacific Ocean – Amapala; in the Caribbean – Puerto Cortes, Puerto Castilla, Carataska, Guanaja), two naval aviation stations, naval educational institutions. The Marine Corps (up to 1 thousand people) is represented by two battalions stationed at the Marine base of La Ceiba (Department of Atlantico) and the Amapala Naval Base (Valle).
The Navy is armed with one patrol ship, 12 combat boats, two auxiliary vessels, as well as two aircraft. The fleet forces are involved in the fight against smuggling and the suppression of drug trafficking.
DOMINICANA
The Dominican Republic Navy is tasked with protecting territorial waters and a 200-mile economic zone, as well as countering drug smuggling. The basis of the Navy is patrol ships and boats armed with small–caliber artillery and machine guns. The Navy includes several divisions: patrol (three former American Coast Guard ships), Coast Guard (ten patrol boats of American construction), search and rescue (four boats of the Damen type of local construction), interceptor boats (14 boats) and auxiliary vessels (three tugs, a dredger, an amphibious boat and a floating dock). An attempt was made to create a naval aviation, for which the Navy purchased two ON-58 Kiowa helicopters. But their operation was expensive, and the machines were transferred to the Air Force. In 2008, a Marine infantry battalion was formed. There is also a small special forces unit. The main VMB is Las Calderas. VMB "February 27" is also used in the country's capital Santo Domingo.
COLOMBIA
Like many countries in the region, Colombia has two separate maritime theaters – in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, as well as a network of navigable rivers. The Navy includes four territorial commands – Caribbean and Pacific Maritime, Southern and Eastern River. There is a special command of San Andres and Providencia, responsible for the area of a remote archipelago in the Caribbean Sea, as well as naval aviation and Marine Corps commands. About 35 thousand people serve in the Navy, of which 22 thousand are in the Marine Corps. Marines are actively used in counterinsurgency operations and drug traffickers, acting with the support of river flotillas. The fleet has four submarines built by Germany. Two boats of ave. 209/1200 with a displacement of about 1200 tons ("Piaho" and "Tyrone") entered service in 1975. In 2015, the composition of the submarine flotilla was supplemented by two small submarines of ave. 206A with a displacement of 450 tons, transferred from the German Navy. These boats are designed to support the actions of combat swimmers. Four FS1500 frigates – Almirante Padilla, Caldao, Antioqua and Independiente – were also built in Germany in 1983-1984. With modest dimensions (length 99 m, displacement 2100 t) they carry powerful weapons: the Exocet anti-aircraft missile system, Mistral anti-aircraft guided missiles, 7b-mm and paired 40-mm artillery installations, 324-mm torpedo tubes.
Patrol ships of the OPV-80 Ave. were built at the Columbia shipyard according to a German project. With a length of 80 m and a total displacement of over 1,700 tons, they are armed with 40 mm artillery pieces and heavy machine guns, and can carry a helicopter. The fleet received three such ships from 2012 to 2017, they want to continue their construction. Three other patrol ships are older (two former American and a South Korean). Of the patrol boats, the most modern are three CPV-46 Ave. (one built in Colombia, two in South Korea).
CUBA
The number of the Navy is about 3 thousand people. They include two naval bases, one naval district, a separate marine regiment and nine separate coastal defense divisions. The fleet consists of nine warships, 17 combat boats and an auxiliary vessel. In addition, combat swimmers are armed with amphibious motorboats of the Zodiac type.
Mexico
The Navy includes the Pacific Command and the Command of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, as well as the commands of naval aviation and Marine Corps. The ship's composition is optimized for the protection of territorial waters and a 200-mile exclusive economic zone. The fleet has six former American frigates (4 types "Knox" and 2 "Bronstein") and 32 ocean patrol ships (11 of them are former American minesweepers of the Second World War, the rest are modern ships of Spanish and Mexican construction). Also in the fleet there are two missile boats (former Israeli), 30 patrol boats (the most numerous are of the Aztec type, built in the UK in the 1970s; they are replaced by boats of the Damen type 4207 built at their own shipyards). Since the beginning of the XXI century, the Navy has acquired more than 60 SV 90HMN high-speed interceptor boats developed in Sweden to protect offshore oil fields and counter drug smuggling.
PERU
About 26 thousand people serve in the Navy, there are more than 50 ships. Z0 years ago, the Peruvian Navy had 12 submarines, now this number has halved. All six submarines were built by Germany in the 1970s. Two of them – ave. 209/1100 – were upgraded in 2008, four more (ave. 209/1200) are to be upgraded. The flagship cruiser Almirante Grau is the former Dutch De Reuter, which entered service in 1953 and was sold to Peru in 1973. It has gone through several rounds of modernization. Of the former weapons, only the main caliber was left – four two-gun 152-mm turrets. In 1993, eight additional PU were installed for the Otomat anti-aircraft missile system, and in 1996 - two 40–mm twin Dardo anti-aircraft guns. All frigates are of the Lupo type. Two Italian-built ships joined the fleet in 1979, two more were built under license in Peru in 1984 and 1987. In 2004-2006, the Peruvian Navy acquired four more former Italian ships of the same type. One frigate was transferred to the Coast Guard in 2013, having lost its main armament, the rest continue to serve as part of the fleet. The frigates are armed with the Otomat missile defense system, the Aspid missile defense system, 127-mm and 40-mm artillery launchers, anti-submarine torpedoes, have a runway and a hangar for a helicopter.
CHILE
The Chilean Navy and the Coast Guard united with them are organizationally divided into five naval zones: 1st (Valparaiso), 2nd (Talcahuano), 3rd (Punta Arenas), 4th (Iquique), 5th (Puerto Montt). The Navy consists of four submarines, including two new Carrera-type boats (French Scorpin) and two fairly modern Thompson submarines (German ave. 209/1300).
The basis of the surface forces are three new frigates "Almirante Cochrane" (English "Norfolk"), two "Almirante Riveros" (Dutch "Karel Dorman") and two "Captain Prat" (Dutch "Jacob van Heemskerk"). There is also a frigate "Williams" (English "Broadsword"). They are complemented by three missile boats "Kasma" (Israeli "Saar-4"). There are also patrol boats and patrol ships: six Ortiz, four Piloto Pardo (OPV-80), eight Grumete Diaz (Israeli Dabur) and up to 100 more vessels in the coast Guard. The amphibious forces of the fleet have the Sargento Aldea DCD (French Foudre), two Rancagua tDCS (French Batral), the Aquiles transport and the Elicura landing barge.
ECUADOR
The Navy controls the Pacific coast and the Galapagos Islands. 9100 people serve in them. Most of the ships are based at the Naval Base in Guayaquil. The headquarters of the Marine Corps is also located there.
There are two Shiri-type submarines in service (German boats of the T-209/1300 Ave.), two frigates (former British Linder and Linder II), six Esmeralda-type corvettes (Italian-built), three Quito-type missile boats (built by Germany). There are more than 70 patrol ships, boats with light weapons, support vessels and transports.
conclusions
The prospects for the development of the fleets of the region are connected with plans to create nuclear submarines. Latin America is a promising region for Russia in terms of military-technical cooperation, taking into account plans to modernize the navies of Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, etc.
Vasily Ivanov
Vasily Ivanovich Ivanov is a journalist.
