Armed forces of the world

Mexican Armed Forces

Mexico has a very large army in terms of personnel and a complex structure, which is completely focused on counterinsurgency warfare. The country's armed forces do not have tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, self-propelled guns, full-fledged attack helicopters, or submarines. The number of MLRS, combat aircraft and ships with anti-ship missiles is extremely small. Almost all available equipment is very outdated. However, the countries of Central America, bordering Mexico in the south, have even weaker armed forces, and therefore do not pose a threat to it. The US, on the other hand, is too powerful for Mexico to resist. In addition, the United States is now considered Mexico’s closest ally; most of its military equipment is American-made. Accordingly, it simply makes no sense for the country to have armed forces focused on classical warfare. The main opponents of the Mexican army are local drug cartels, which control a significant part of the country, as well as left-wing guerrilla groups. The police are not capable of fighting them, so this task is entrusted to the Armed Forces and is solved by them with varying degrees of success.

Ground troops conditionally divided into “maneuver” and “territorial” forces. The first include the 1st AK (which includes the 1st armored, 2nd, 3rd, 6th infantry, 1st, 4th, 5th light infantry brigades), SSO (1st , 2nd, 3rd brigades), as well as 9 separate brigades - motorized infantry (Presidential Guard), three armored (2nd, 3rd, 4th), Airborne Forces, 1st Engineering, three military police brigades (1st, 2nd, 4th). There is not a single tank in the armored brigades.

"Territorial" troops are part of 12 military districts, which are divided into 45 military zones. They include more than 30 regiments and more than 100 battalions (almost exclusively infantry), their number and locations are constantly changing.

There are more than 1 thousand armored vehicles in service - 120 French ERC-90F1 and 32 VBL, 37 American MAC-1, 866 American Sandcat. Armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles - 25 Swiss “Roland”, 40 German HWK-11, 95 Belgian BDX (produced under license under the name DNC-2), 355 own DNC-1 (modified French AMX-VCI armored personnel carrier), 25 DN-3, 25 DN-4, 70 DN-5, 26 American V-150ST, 40 M8 and 34 M-2A1, 36 French VCR-TT (and 12 auxiliary vehicles based on it).

Artillery includes about 100 towed guns (18 British M116 (75 mm), 60 American M101 and 13 Chinese Toure 90 (105 mm)) and more than 1.3 thousand mortars (400 American M1, 400 French Brandt, 300 Spanish SB and 54 self-propelled on the DNC-1 chassis (81 mm), 10 American M30 (107 mm), 75 French Brandt and 32 RT-61, 60 Israeli M-65 (120 mm)).

There are 8 French self-propelled ATGMs "Milan" on the VBL BRM and 30 extremely outdated American anti-tank missiles M3 (37 mm).

Ground air defense consists of 40 Swiss anti-aircraft guns GAI-B01 (20 mm).

There is no army aviation in Mexico, but it is, in fact, replaced by police and security force aviation, consisting of transport aircraft and helicopters. Aircraft - 2 Spanish CN-235M, 3 American Boeing-727, 2 Cessna-182, 22 Cessna-206 (up to 26 more in storage), 1 Cessna-208 (1-2 more in storage), 13 Cessna-210 (up to 18 more in storage), 1 Cessna-402 (up to 4 more in storage), 1 Cessna-441 (up to 3 more in storage), 1 Cessna-500 (1-2 more in storage), 2 Beach-200, 3 Beach-300, 3 Beach-350 (1 more in storage), 1 Beach-400, 1 RA-31 (up to 7 more in storage), 1 RA-32 (2 more in storage), 2 RA-34 (up to 2 more in storage), 1 Gulfstream-II (up to 6 more in storage), 1 Gulfstream-III, 3-4 Falcon-20, 8 Commander-690 (2 more in storage), 7 Commander-695 (1 more in storage), 1 Learjet 23, 1 Learjet 24, 1 Learjet 25,3 Learjet-35 (1 more in storage), 1 Learjet 36, 3 Learjet-45, 1 German Do-328, 1 Canadian CL-605, 2 British BN-2 (2 more in storage). Helicopters - 18 American UH-1H (1 more in storage), 72 Bell-206 (up to 38 more in storage), 6 Bell-212, 11 Bell-412 (1 more in storage), 20 " Bell-407", 2 "Bell-429" (1 more in storage), 2 "Bell-430", 6 UH-60M, 8 S-70A, 1 R-44 (1 more in storage), 8 European EC120 and 1 EC145, 24 French AS350B (2 more in storage), 2 HB350B, 2 EC225, 7 AS355, 7-8 Italian AW119, 10 A109 (2 more in storage), 3 Russian Mi-17.

Air Force organizationally divided into 18 air bases (1st – 18th, of which 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 11th, 16th, 17th I am the VVB itself, the rest are airports shared with civil aviation).

The only combat aircraft of the Mexican Air Force are 4 old American F-5 fighters (3 E, 1 combat trainer F; another 5 E, 1 F in storage).

There are 2 Brazilian RER EMB-145RS aircraft (2 American C-26A in storage) and 1 AWACS aircraft EMB-145SA (1 Cessna-550 in storage). These three EMB-145s of two modifications are the most modern aircraft of the Mexican Air Force.

Transport aircraft - 2 American C-130K (2 more and up to 4 A in storage), 1 L-100-30, 1 Commander-695 (1 more in storage), 2-3 Beach-C90A, 1 " Beach-300", 10 Beach-350, 1 Learjet-35, 1 Learjet-45, up to 73 Cessna-182, 3 Cessna-206 (up to 7 more in storage), 1 " Cessna-210", 1 "Cessna-680", 6 "Boeing-737", 1 "Boeing-757", 2 "Gulfstream-150", 2 "Gulfstream-550", 4 modern Italian C-27J, 8 newest Spanish S-295M, 3 Swiss PC-6B, 1 Canadian CL-605; 3 Boeing 727, 1 Boeing 787, 4 Cessna-150 and Cessna-310 each, 3 Israeli Arava are in storage.

Training aircraft - 58 of the latest American T-6C, up to 52 Swiss PC-7 and 1 RS-9, up to 15 Italian SF-260EU, 25 German Grob-120. Up to 15 American"Beach-F33S", up to 13 RT-17, up to 12 MX-7-180 are in storage.

Multipurpose and transport helicopters - 12 American MD-530 (6 F, 6 MG; 1 more MG, 1 F in storage), 23 UH-60 (17 M, 6 L), 17 Bell-407, up to 38 Bell -206" (up to 8 more in storage), 11 "Bell-212" (1 more in storage), 12 "Bell-412", 11 European EC725, 1 EC225, 1 EC145, 4 French AS332L, 1 Italian AW109SP, 19 Russian Mi-17; 1 Mi-8, 2 American CH-53 have been withdrawn from the Air Force and are in storage.

Navy must protect the country's very long coastline, facing two oceans. The Mexican fleet, in this regard, is quite numerous, but is focused specifically on protecting the coast and territorial waters without the ability to solve any other problems.

The Navy operates four old American-built Allende-class (Knox-class) frigates. They can theoretically carry Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Extremely outdated destroyers that were recently decommissioned from the Navy are in storage."Netzahualcoyotl" ("Giring" type) and 2 frigates of "Bravo" type ("Bronstein" type).

The basis of the Navy is made up of corvettes and PCs - 7 type "Oaxaca" (there will be 1 more), 4 type "Durango", 3 type "Sierra", 4 type "Holzinger" (all of our own construction), 5 type "Uribe" (Spanish construction ), 11 “Valle” type (American “Ok” type built in the 40s).

2 missile boats of the Huracan type (Israeli Aliya-Saar4.5 type) are the only real carriers of anti-ship missiles in the Mexican Navy.

There are numerous patrol boats - 10 Tenochtitlan type (Dutch Damen 4207 type), 20 Azteca type (another 11 were withdrawn from the Navy and are in storage), 2 Democrat type, 3 Cabo type, 2 "Punta" (American Point type), 48 Polaris type (Swedish SV90 type attack boats) and 9 Polaris-2 (modernized SV90), 8 Acuario type, 4 Isla type.

The Navy includes 6 Banderas type (American built) and 4 TDK - 2 Papaloapan type (American Newport type), 2 Montes Atzules type (the newest ones built in-house). An extremely outdated TDK is in storage"Manzanillo" (American LST-1152).

Naval aviation is quite numerous. It consists of 6 basic Spanish-made CN-235MPA patrol aircraft (and up to 5 C-212 in storage). Transport aircraft - 6 Spanish C-295M, 3 American Learjet (1 -60, 2 -31), 4 Commander-695, 3-5 Lancair, 1 Gulfstream-550, 8 Beach-350 ", 1 Cessna 208, 1 Cessna 210, 1 Cessna 402, 1 Canadian DHC-8, 1 CL-605; 3 Ukrainian An-32B and 1 Canadian DHC-5D in storage. Training aircraft - 13 American T-6C and up to 9 MX-7-180 (3 more in storage), 27 Czech Z-242L and 2 Z-143L, 3 Finnish L-90TR.

Multi-purpose and transport helicopters - 5 American MD-902, 2 MD-500E (2 more in storage), 4 Schweitzer-300S, 10 Schweitzer-333, 10 UH-60M, 1 Italian AW109SP, up to 23 Russian Mi-17, 3 European EC725, 2 EC225, 14 French AS565MB. Up to 4 German Bo-105CBS-5 are in storage.

The Marine Corps is, in fact, a “supplement” of the ground forces, solving similar problems; its relationship to the Navy is purely formal. It consists of 8 brigades (1st – 8th; odd numbers are deployed on the Gulf Coast (7th in Mexico City), even numbers are deployed in the Pacific Ocean), 2 amphibious brigades (1 on each ocean) and 3 special forces groups . In service there are up to 30 Soviet BTR-60 (modernized in Mexico itself according to the ARS-70 version), 8 Yugoslav towed guns M-56 (105 mm) and 6 MLRS "Firos-25" (122 mm), 5 Russian MANPADS "Igla" "

"You can beg for anything! Money, fame, power, but not your Motherland... Especially one like my Russia"

Mexican armor and drug wars

The ground forces of the United Mexican States number about 105 thousand people. Combat composition: 3 brigades (2 infantry and mechanized), 3 separate armored cavalry and 3 separate artillery regiments, 21 separate motorized regiments, 75 separate infantry battalions, combat and logistics support units. The Mexican army is recruited on the basis of the law on universal conscription with conscripts who have reached the age of 18; minimum service life - 12 months; the minimum age for volunteers who have expressed a desire to serve in the armed forces is 16 years; conscripts serve only in the army, the Navy and Air Force are staffed exclusively by volunteers, women have the right to voluntary military service. military spending in 2006 was 0.5% of GDP.

The main armament of the army is 45 light tanks MZ and M8, more than 100 field artillery guns, over 1,500 mortars, anti-tank weapons (including Milan anti-tank systems).

RPG-29 grenade launcher crew, Mexican Army paratroopers

Independence Day Parade

Modern Mexican tanks are structurally derived from American models of the Second World War.

Although back in the 20s of the 20th century, Mexican rebels riveted some semblance of armored personnel carriers out of tractors.

The first “factory” armored units in Mexico were the American CTVL model 1937 wedges from Marmon Herrington (CTL - Combat Tank, Light), proudly bearing the title of “the shortest tank in the world.”

Its overall dimensions (length x width x height): 1.83 x 1.9 x 1.6 m. At the same time, the baby was protected by 12.7 mm armor, armed with two rifle-caliber machine guns, and a Ford V-8 engine with a power of 110 hp. With. allowed her to reach speeds of up to 48 km/h.

Review of a CTVL tank unit of the Mexican Army.

The Mexican army, after acquiring tankettes, in 1942 acquired a batch of 4 CTMS-1TBI medium tanks with a 20-mm cannon.

Despite being replaced by the M3A3 and M5A1 Stuart tanks in 1943, the Marmons continued to remain in service until the early 1950s.

The American self-propelled 75-mm howitzer HMC M8 “Scott”, based on the M5 light tank with an open circular rotation turret, was used as heavy weapons.

Turrets from tanks that have exhausted their service life continue to serve on the chassis of the Commando wheeled armored personnel carrier.

Another type of American equipment from WWII was seen in the Mexican army, the M9A1 half-track armored personnel carriers.

Weapons

* Airplanes: 592
* Armored vehicles: 1,124
* Artillery systems: 194
* Air defense systems: 80
* Infantry support systems: 1,613
* Naval units: 93
* Presence of nuclear weapons: there are no nuclear weapons.

Armored vehicles in detail

* 50 VAB armored personnel carriers
* 120 Lynx 90 armored vehicles
* 123 M113 armored personnel carriers
* 23 V-150 armored vehicles
* 25 MOWAG Roland armored vehicles
* 30 BMR-600 armored personnel carriers
* 40 Panhard VBL armored vehicles
* 40 Panhard VCR armored vehicles
* 40 AMX-10P infantry fighting vehicles
* 40 AMX-VCI infantry fighting vehicles
* 32 M-32 tow trucks based on M-4
* 195 BMP DNC-2
* 40 HW-K 11
* 40 DN-1
* 50 DN-3
* 50 DN-4
* 50 DN-5
* more than 3700 HMMWV vehicles
* M-35 trucks

The AMX-10P is a French infantry fighting vehicle from the 1970s.

The French AMX VCI infantry fighting vehicle was developed in the 50s on the basis of the AMX-13 light tank.

BMR-600 is a Spanish wheeled armored personnel carrier of the 1970s made by Enasa.

DN series - armored vehicles of Mexican design. From the DN-3 model onwards, these are analogues of the Cage Commando, created on the nodes of American commercial models. Pictured is a DN-IV Caballo with a 20mm cannon.

DNC-2 - Mexican version of the Belgian BDX all-wheel drive armored car. Equipped with a 7.62 mm machine gun, it carries 10 soldiers, unlike the DN-IV, which can carry 7 paratroopers.

Mexican Army ERC 90 F1 Lynx.

HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) is an American army all-terrain vehicle, suitable for air transport and landing. The civilian version is known as the Hummer.

M113 "Gavin", US Army armored personnel carrier from the 1960s.

BREM M-32 based on the M-4 Sherman, equipped with an 81-mm smoke grenade launcher and a boom with a lifting capacity of 27.2 tons.

The US Army 2.5-ton M35/44 truck has been in use since the Korean War.

The French armored car Panhard VBL is an analogue of the American Hummer.

Panhard VCR is a French four-wheel drive (6x6) armored truck.

Cadillac V-150.

Swiss MOWAG Roland armored car from the 1960s.

VAB (Véhicule de l "Avant Blindé - “front line armored vehicle”) - French armored personnel carrier model 1976.

In the absence of clearly defined external enemies, the main tasks of the Armed Forces lie in the fight against internal enemies - the Zapatistas and drug cartels.

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation - EZLN, named after General Emiliano Zapata, hero of the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920, consists of Mexican Indians (about 10% of the Mexican population) who need protection from attacks by the "white guards" of the latifundists, and followers of the revolutionary theories of Che Guevara. Created on November 17, 1983 by a group of three Indians and three mestizos in the Lacandon countryside. In the same area, many Indians found refuge, fleeing oppression from the “traditional” communities and from the terror of the “white guards” of landowners and cattle breeders. They created their own communities, sharply different from most others. For example, all decisions in them were made collectively, in “assemblies”. There was no dominance of leaders and shamans, or religious fanaticism.

Subcomandante Marcos (presumably Rafael Vicente, born 1957)

One of the founders of the partisan hearth was Cesar Yañez, the “face” of the EZLN is Subcomandante Marcos, who joined the movement in 1984, and the symbol of the women’s wing of the organization is Comandante Ramona; Indian women are represented by Comandante Esther.

The Zapatista military leadership is elected by civilian communities and its composition changes every year. All EZLN fighters are volunteers. To join the ranks of fighters you need to learn reading, writing and history. Women who have children cannot be fighters. The territory under the control of the EZLN is the only one in the country free of drugs and alcohol.

Marcos and Ramona

On New Year's Eve, January 1, 1994, hundreds of masked Indians, mostly armed with old carbines and wooden dummy rifles, occupied seven municipal centers in Chiapas. From the captured telegraph they introduced themselves to the world and pledged to comply with the laws of the Geneva Convention on the conduct of hostilities. The next day, aircraft and armored vehicles of the Mexican Federal Army attacked four cities in the state of Chiapas occupied by the Zapatistas. In most cases, avoiding direct clashes with troops, the Zapatistas retreated to the mountains and began an information war. After another 17 days, under pressure from Mexican society and the world community, the Mexican government announced a unilateral ceasefire and the start of negotiations. By this time, in the national and international press, on the Internet, in addition to combat reports, declarations and interviews of the Zapatistas appeared, explaining the reasons and goals of the uprising.

As a result of the negotiations, agreements were concluded to amend the Mexican constitution with recognition in it of the rights and culture of Indian peoples, self-government of Indian communities and the territories inhabited by them. However, the agreements were never implemented. Instead, the government began training militants to destabilize the state.

2 years after the uprising, the Zapatista National Liberation Front was created - a civilian unarmed organization operating throughout the country. The number of its participants is many times greater than the number of armed Zapatistas in Chiapas (in 1992 there were several thousand fighters).

On December 22, 1997, in the village of Acteal, ultra-right militants shot 45 people in a church with machine guns, most of them women and children. “There were about 60 killers. The wounded were finished off with a shot in the head or their heads were cut off with a swing of a machete.” The Zapatistas claim that the police, located 200 meters from the scene of the tragedy, intervened only after the end of the massacre (more than 6 hours later) to help the criminals hide the corpses.

In 1999, state police stormed the municipality of San Andrés, ousting the Zapatista authorities. The next day, about three thousand civilian Zapatistas peacefully regained control of the administrative center and took it under their protection.

At six in the morning on February 25, 2001, more than three thousand Zapatistas and their sympathizers left Chiapas with the EZLN command. The trek lasted a total of 37 days, involved tens of thousands of Indians and non-Indians, and crossed 13 states of the country, where a total of 77 mass meetings and rallies took place. On March 11, the Zapatistas arrived in the country’s central square, the Zocalo. About one and a half million people gathered on it and around it. Marcos held hundreds of meetings with representatives of a wide variety of public organizations and movements over two weeks in Mexico City. The march on Mexico City ended on March 28 with a speech in Congress by Comandante Esther, speaking about triple discrimination against Indian women - as poor, as women and as Indians.

Comandante Esther in Congress, 2001

On April 25, the Mexican Senate ratified a new law on Indian rights and culture. But this law had nothing to do with the Zapatista demands; all any significant points were emasculated from it. The Zapatistas announced the termination of negotiations and a complete severance of contacts with the government. As a last-ditch effort to save the peace process, the country's Supreme Court asked for a review of this decision. On September 6 of the following year, the Mexican Supreme Court declared itself incompetent to amend the constitution: the last door to a peaceful solution slammed shut. At the same time, far-right militants continued to attack civilian communities and kill and kidnap Zapatista activists.

Indian communities cut off contact with the outside world and closed to internal consultations.

But the drug lords are not nearly as toothless as the anarcho-communist idealists. Every year, 15 thousand Mexicans die in drug wars. This is understandable, because these cases involve huge sums. Mexico's drug mafia has to fight not only other cartels, but also the police. Therefore, in order to safely transport drugs across the border, drug traffickers patrol the roads along which drugs are transported from Mexico to the United States with the help of peculiar homemade tanks.

In this case, police operations often turn into real military operations with the use of artillery and armored vehicles. Therefore, army units are often involved in them.

FN MAG machine gun on a Mexican army tank

16th Infantry Battalion, Los Zetas in Linares, Nuevo Leon

To combat drug trafficking, the Mexican army uses “random checkpoint” tactics, intercepting roads in unexpected places with the help of its combat vehicles.

Since the end of the Cold War, the armed forces of most European NATO countries have reoriented themselves from preparing for classic army-versus-army wars to counterinsurgency warfare. This is evidenced by a radical reduction in the number of tanks and artillery systems, and a significant reduction in combat aircraft and ships. But they purchased armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles with enhanced mine protection, multi-purpose helicopters, and landing ships built on the basis of civilian ferries.

If in Europe such a reorientation began only about 20 years ago, then the Latin American armies have always focused primarily on this type of war. The fundamental difference is that Western armies are going to conduct counterinsurgency wars on foreign territory, while Latin American armies have always conducted and will continue to conduct them in their own countries. Classic wars between states in this part of the world, as a rule, are difficult for purely geographical reasons. Thus, in South America, almost all interstate borders fall either on the jungle of the Amazon and Orinoco basins, which is almost impassable even for infantry, or on the even more impassable Andes.

Perhaps it is for these reasons that, from the point of view of technical equipment, the armed forces of Latin American countries have traditionally been a “dumping ground” of outdated Western (to a lesser extent, Soviet) weapons. After the end of the Cold War, the situation did not change at all qualitatively, only the range of the “dump” expanded somewhat, since much more equipment, and quite modern ones at that, began to be written off from Western armed forces. Almost the only supplier of weapons manufactured specifically for Latin America is Russia, China is gradually joining it, and both of these countries are ready to sell weapons to anyone. Because of this, interesting moments arise, such as, for example, the destruction in February 1995 by the Ecuadorians, using Igla MANPADS purchased in Russia, of two Peruvian Su-22 attack aircraft, acquired by Peru back in the USSR.

Brazil

In economic and demographic terms, the country confidently ranks first in Latin America. Moreover, it is classified as a conditional BRIC group, which means its claims to a global role. The state has a highly developed industry, including a very powerful military-industrial complex, and is an exporter of weapons. The Brazilian Astros MLRS, Tucano attack aircraft, training aircraft, and AWACS aircraft are very popular outside of the country (even European countries purchase them).

At the same time, however, in military development the country is pursuing a rather strange policy, which can be called “conservation of backwardness.” The Brazilian Armed Forces, which are large in number of personnel, remain technologically a “scrap metal dump,” and “scrap metal” is still purchased today. In Germany and Belgium, extremely outdated Leopard-1 tanks were purchased (although Brazil itself created a higher-quality Osorio tank); no less outdated F-5 fighters were purchased in Jordan (in addition to the already existing aircraft of the same type received previously from the USA). For the aircraft carrier Clemenceau purchased in France (renamed Sao Paulo), even more outdated A-4 deck attack aircraft were purchased from Kuwait.

A relative exception is the purchase of three Broadsword-class frigates in the UK, 12 Mirage-2000 fighters in France (both of which are of the earliest modifications), and in Russia six Mi-35 attack helicopters and 112 MANPADS. Igla" (it is planned to buy an additional number of "Iglas" and licensed production of Russian air defense systems "Pantsir-S1"). The competition for the purchase of 12 truly new fighters has been canceled due to budget constraints. It is these restrictions that apparently dictate such a strange policy. In addition, the borders with militarily strong Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru pass through the Amazonian jungle, where it is impossible to use ground equipment. And Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina taken together are weaker than Brazil. But in this case, isn’t it easier not to buy anything at all than to buy “scrap metal”?

The greatest attention is paid to the development of the submarine fleet. Improved Project 209/1400 submarines have been put into service, and statements are regularly made about the intention to begin construction of submarines (and based on diesel submarines). But this does not change the overall picture. Brazil's armed forces continue to remain an insignificant force, completely out of step with the country's global claims (if, of course, there actually are any). The presence of such claims can be evidenced by the Navy construction program until 2030 (six submarines, 20 submarines, two aircraft carriers, 30 destroyers and frigates, four UDC), but its feasibility raises very serious doubts.

Chile

In terms of military development, Chile is the complete opposite of Brazil. Having no obvious geopolitical ambitions (even within South America), this country has radically strengthened its armed forces in recent years, with a focus on waging classical warfare.

Thus, 140 Leopard-2A4 tanks and 170 Marder infantry fighting vehicles were purchased in Germany, 46 F-16A/B/C/D fighters were purchased in the USA and Holland, and two new submarines of the Scorpen and DVKD type were purchased in France. Foudre", in Great Britain and Holland - eight frigates of the Norfolk, Broadsword, Jacob Van Heemskerk and Karel Doorman types, in Germany and Israel - seven missile boats. As a result, in just a few years, in terms of the total combat potential of the armed forces of this country, they came out on top in Latin America. It should be noted that from a geopolitical point of view, such efforts by Santiago seem even somewhat unnecessary; their reason is not entirely clear (at least for the moment).

Argentina

If the military-technical policy of Brazil can be called “conservation of backwardness,” then in Argentina there is essentially a degradation of the armed forces. After the defeat in the Falklands War, the country practically did not acquire any modern weapons, and even outdated ones, like Brazil. Some exceptions are a few submarines, destroyers and frigates purchased from Germany in the 1980s, but today these too should be considered obsolete. The country's air force does not have fighters not only of the 4th, but even of the 3rd generation. The contrast with the neighboring Republic of Chile is especially noticeable here, from which Argentina is now protected only by the Andes; it is quite difficult for troops to pass through them. The state of the Argentine Armed Forces was discussed in more detail in the article “Islands of Discord”.

Mexico

The Mexican Armed Forces seem to be the ideal embodiment of the Latin American military. Very significant in terms of the number of personnel (280 thousand, while, for example, Chile has about 60 thousand), they do not have tanks, self-propelled guns, MLRS, or submarines. The Air Force has only nine F-5 combat aircraft, the Navy has four old Knox-class frigates, two Israeli-built missile boats and not a single unit with any missiles (but more than a hundred patrol ships and boats).

Thus, the Mexican Armed Forces are incapable of waging a classic war even against a very mediocre army. At the same time, as the current situation shows, they also cannot wage a counterinsurgency war, since the drug mafia is taking full control of an increasingly large part of the country’s territory. The northern cities of Mexico have become “world record holders” for the number of murders. In general, the number of deaths at the hands of the Mexican drug mafia over the past decade is comparable to the number of victims of the civil wars in Iraq and Syria. This begins to create real tension even for the United States, which forced the American command to place both armored divisions, as well as four brigades (one infantry, one artillery, one army aviation and one air defense) on the border with Mexico.

Peru

Even during the Cold War era, Peru was one of three Latin American countries that acquired some weapons from the USSR, while maintaining military-technical cooperation with Western states. This policy continued in the post-Soviet period. Thanks to this, the combat potential of the Peruvian Armed Forces in terms of conducting classical warfare remains quite high (by Latin American standards). Thus, in addition to 12 Mirage-2000 fighters, 21 MiG-29 fighters (now 20 remain) and 18 Su-25 attack aircraft were purchased in Russia and Belarus, and the latter were successfully used as fighters to combat light aircraft of the drug mafia. Mi-24 helicopters were purchased from Nicaragua.

The country has a fairly large submarine fleet (eight Project 209/1200 submarines); eight relatively new Lupo-class frigates were purchased from Italy. Peru remains one of only three countries in the world (the other two are the United States and Russia) that have cruiser-class ships in their navies. In this case, we are talking about a Dutch ship built in the 30s, however, as a result of modernization, it was armed with the Otomat anti-ship missile system. The renewal of the tank fleet has been postponed for now, although it was planned to replace the outdated Soviet T-55 with Chinese VT-1A. However, this contract was blocked by Ukraine, which refused to supply engines for these tanks. The details of such a strange story are still shrouded in darkness.

During the war with Ecuador in 1995, the Peruvian Air Force, despite significant quantitative and qualitative superiority over the Ecuadorian Air Force, performed extremely mediocre, suffering significant losses (10 aircraft and helicopters). Nevertheless, thanks to the actions of the ground forces, Peru won the war. In addition, the Peruvian army achieved a remarkable victory in counterinsurgency warfare against the very strong Maoist group Sendero Luminoso in the 1980s and 1990s. In general, Peru's armed forces are today one of the three strongest in Latin America.

Ecuador

The state policy is very reminiscent of the Brazilian “conservation of backwardness,” which in this case is more justified, given the very modest financial capabilities of this country. Even in recent years, Ecuador has been purchasing Mirage-5 fighter jets from Venezuela, and Chita (Mirage-F1) fighter jets from South Africa. It is interesting that in the war with Peru, Ecuadorian fighters shot down two Su-22s without losses on their part. In the late 90s, the country reached reconciliation with Peru, but ten years later it found itself in a state of confrontation with Colombia, becoming an ally of Chavez's Venezuela. It is interesting that in terms of waging a classic war, the armed forces of Ecuador have some superiority over the Armed Forces of Colombia, and in all three areas - on land, in the air, at sea.

Venezuela

Venezuela has become the second country in Latin America after Chile, which in recent years has sharply increased its potential for conducting classical warfare (despite the fact that it was already quite high by local standards). Moreover, unlike Chile, the reasons for the buildup are obvious and ideological in nature. While retaining AMX-30 tanks and F-16 fighters (21, of which three are in storage), Chavez acquired T-72B tanks (92 units), Msta self-propelled guns (at least four) and 2S23 (17) from Russia. , BMP-3 (123 ordered), BTR-80A (at least 114), BM-21 MLRS (at least 24), S-125 air defense systems (11 divisions) and Tor, Igla-S MANPADS, Mi helicopters -35 (at least 10), Su-30 fighter-bombers (24). It is possible to purchase the S-300V air defense system, the Smerch MLRS, and the Project 636 submarine. If these plans are realized, Venezuela will bypass Chile and become the most militarily powerful country in Latin America. However, if Chavez leaves (and the likelihood of such an outcome is increasingly higher), massive purchases of weapons in Russia will immediately end, and most likely the weapons already purchased will not be paid for.

Colombia

This country is militarily similar to Mexico: it has a very large armed force, which is almost entirely focused on waging counterinsurgency warfare. They have been waging such a war for a long time and with limited success against the drug mafia and leftist militants from the FARC organization. Their potential for conducting classical warfare is extremely limited and is hardly updated. The Colombian Armed Forces do not have tanks (although plans have been made public to purchase obsolete Leopard-1A5 from Germany), self-propelled guns, MLRS, and only 30 2nd generation fighters (Kfir and Mirage-5) in the Air Force, so they are weaker even than the Armed Forces Ecuador. And with the armed forces of Venezuela there is no data for comparison at all. In the event of a war with these countries, even separately, especially on two fronts (this is unlikely, but not impossible), Colombia is doomed to defeat unless it receives direct support from the United States.

Cuba

This state, along with Argentina, is an example of the catastrophic degradation of the armed forces, which is explained by the loss of a sponsor in the person of the USSR. Venezuela and China are not yet ready to replace him in this role. The situation is somewhat alleviated by Cuba's island position. Thanks to this, the only conceivable potential enemy of the country remains the United States, for which, however, it is easier and cheaper to wait for the internal disintegration of the Cuban regime than to organize aggression against it.

Military development in the remaining countries of Latin America is of no interest due to their extreme military weakness and the complete lack of ability to overcome it.

There will be no left turn

The lack of external ambitions (at least outside the continent) and limited financial resources preserve the military backwardness of Latin American countries. The exceptions of Chile and Venezuela cannot reverse the general trend.

A radical left turn in most Latin American countries could change the situation. Such a turn actually took place: several years ago, the phenomenon of “popular socialism” arose on the continent, which was built not through a violent seizure of power, as in Russia and a number of Asian countries, and not through imposition from the outside, as in Eastern Europe, but thanks to the democratic expression of the will of the population . However, the radicalism of the left turn in most countries turned out to be insufficient politically (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay) or was not provided with sufficient resources for the development of the armed forces (Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador). The coincidence of desires and possibilities occurred only in Venezuela, however, it also purchases a significant part of its weapons from Russia on credit. Apparently, the “left wave” has already begun to decline; the creation of a new “socialist community” in Latin America, ready to challenge the United States (including in military terms), will not take place.

In the future, a change in the situation is possible by penetrating the region of China, which may begin to seriously help the local left, not out of mythical ideological kinship, but for the sake of gaining access to natural resources and creating problems for the United States. The implementation of such a scenario is practically guaranteed; the only question is the speed and radicality of Beijing’s actions. The latter also determines how strong the military component will be in Chinese penetration.

A completely special situation will arise if some of the Latin American countries find themselves under the actual control of the drug mafia (including government agencies and law enforcement agencies), which have significant financial resources that allow them to purchase modern weapons. What is especially noteworthy is that Mexico has the greatest chance of becoming such a country. In this case, for the first time in a century and a half, the United States will receive a real military threat on its own border. Under certain circumstances, a link between the drug mafia and left-wing radicals is quite possible.