White Book of National Defense

[JakeDorent]

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Livro Branco da Defesa Nacional
(White Book of National Defence)

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FOREWORD

Although the end of The Cold War has led to the rise of a new multi-polar world, threats both new and old still remain a constant concern for nation-states. With governmental and non-governmental actors alike possessing the means to threaten Brazil, it is His Imperial Majesty’s Government's duty to ensure the nation’s armed forces have the necessary capabilities to defend the Empire and uphold its sovereignty. It is for this purpose that the Ministry of War and Defence has commissioned this “White Book of National Defence”, to organise and detail the structure and hardware that the nation’s defences shall need, and the path necessary to be taken to establish them.

[JakeDorent]

IMPERIAL ARMED FORCES OF BRAZIL

The primary reason that a nation’s military fulfils is to provide protection against threats to its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Imperial Armed Forces, as it currently exists, is, unfortunately, in an emaciated state. In comparison to The Empire’s immediate Latin American neighbours, Brazil possesses the largest military by far in every conceivable metric. However, when compared to other powers that possess the ability to reach South America, such as The Federal States of Columbia, The French Empire, and The United Kingdom, who are all situated close to Brazil’s territorial boundaries by virtue of their own location, or through their possession of overseas territories, Brazil is outmatched in every conceivable way. As a result, while His Imperial Majesty’s Government can safely meet any challenge posed by its Iberian-related neighbours, it cannot meet every conceivable threat. With this in mind, it is necessary for a tri-service modernisation program to be embarked upon at the nearest opportunity to address this critical shortcoming. Despite claims that this is a radical and unheard of departure from Brazilian defence policy. It can be demonstrated that, historically, this type of action is not without precedent. In the first and second reigns, The Empire was involved in a number of naval arms races with its neighbours, as well as engaged in a number of conflicts which, as a result, would lead to The Empire becoming the fifth largest naval power in the world by the end of the second reign in 1889. This was achieved, despite a distinct lack of industrialisation at the time. It can, therefore, be presumed that Brazil’s status now puts it in a place where it can achieve that same status, if necessary, in a shorter time frame.

[JakeDorent]

IMPERIAL BRAZILIAN ARMY

The Imperial Brazilian Army in its infancy during the first reign and part of the second reign was never a force to be reckoned with, with a military made up mostly of local militias with a small core of professional units, things would only change during the Paraguayan War, where the demoralised Brazilian Army was forced to modernise and adapt to face the superiority of the Paraguayan Army, Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, the Army marshal and future Duke of Caxias, spearheaded the modernisation of the Army and turned it into an effective and capable fighting force that was able to counter the Paraguayan onslaught and bring victory to Brazil. Unfortunately, things have declined since then, with the politicisation of the Army, and its involvement in three coups, reducing its effectiveness, and its potential being deliberately blocked by politicians to curb whatever influence they might gain, the Army has become an underfunded and underpowered organisation that is ill-equipped and ill prepared to protect Brazil’s borders and territorial integrity. It is His Imperial Majesty’s Government’s desire to dispense with this orthodoxy and deliver the means with which the Army can be able to effectively defend the Empire. Currently, the modern brigade system adopted by the Army, while suitable against its Latin American neighbours, is weak when compared with the formations of the world’s foremost military powers. As a result, a new system will need to be adopted. The Imperial Brazilian Army will place greater emphasis on divisional formations, increasing the number of divisions across the country and establishing dedicated corps. In addition, modernisation of equipment and investment in military production capacity will be done to fill gaps in capability that currently exist. The intent behind all of these changes being that the army will finally be in a position that permits them to engage not just in warfighting against non-state actors and lesser powers, but also with peer or near-peer foes. However this change will not signal the end of the brigades, with independent specialised brigades, such as rocket artillery, anti-aircraft, jungle warfare, “caatinga” warfare and mountain warfare being just a few examples of specialist formations that are a necessity, but not in the numbers required to constitute a division.

Any modern military force requires an industrial base, so that it can be provided with the necessary skilled labour and infrastructure with which to produce the weapons and equipment to sustain it and its operations. Despite previous attempts to kickstart a private-sector driven defence sector in the 1970’s, Brazil’s military production sector is incredibly anaemic. At the present time, the only notable producer of sophisticated military-grade technology at this time is Avibras, the producer of a number of items, the most notable being the Astros II multiple launch rocket system. Other enterprises do exist, such as Taurus and Imbel, who are producers of small arms for the army, but the vast majority of the army’s equipment, outside of small arms, light vehicles, and the Astros, are of foreign origin and are fast approaching fifty years of age. Even with the recent opening of The Imperial Engesa-Bernadini Armoury, The Empire lacks experience and capability in even the most basic of standard military equipment. Gun artillery, tanks, armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, all forms of anti-air systems. The list is endless, and covers all facets of modern warfare. This is a damning indictment of the neglect that successive governments stretching as far back as the first republic of 1889 have inflicted upon the army. It is His Imperial Majesty’s Government resolve to establish Brazil’s very own Military-Industrial Complex, utilising the nation’s vast pool of resources and the “know-how” to ensure that not only the Imperial Brazilian Army, but the Imperial Armed Forces as a whole are well supplied with the means from which they are able to defend the Brazilian homeland. Reliance upon foreign products leaves The Empire reliant upon their goodwill, which can be liable to change, leaving us at their mercy, if they were to use our position as a consumer as leverage in hostile actions.

[JakeDorent]

IMPERIAL BRAZILIAN NAVY

The Imperial Brazilian Navy was, for most of its infancy, the favoured branch of the military, having taken a key role in the Brazilian War of Independence and all the wars that followed, the Imperial Armada would succeed many times where the Imperial Army failed. By the end of the second reign, the Imperial Brazilian Navy was arguably the strongest naval force in the Americas and the fifth strongest in the world, unfortunately, with the fall of the Monarchy, the navy’s relationship with it’s sister-branch gradually deteriorated along with the quality of the fleet due to their political differences. As a result, the military-ruled republic abandoned the navy and left it in a state of disrepair, it would only be in the early 20th century that the Navy would peak once more with the purchase of two dreadnought battleships, at the time the strongest ships of the world, that ignited the South American Dreadnought Race. Unfortunately, that was the pinnacle of what the navy received. After a number of mutinies and revolts, the navy was never able to take advantage of their powerful ships, which is best exemplified in the navy’s abysmal performance during the First World War. It would only be after the country’s entrance in the Second World War that the situation would improve, with the Brazilian Navy gaining access to many modern ships that allowed them to effectively combat Axis powers as part of the coalition that fought The Battle of The Atlantic. Unfortunately, this height was short-lived, and the navy quickly returned to the emaciated and ineffective state that was shared with its fellow branches of the army forces. As a result of The Lobster War, which demonstrated the ability for other nations to encroach upon another’s sovereign waters without government involvement, Brazil opted to extend its territorial waters out to a distance of 200 nautical miles unilaterally in 1963, and a formal application to extend it has been lodged with The United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. As a result, Brazil has an exclusive economic zone that is approximately 4.4 million square kilometres. The Imperial Navy, which is tasked with protecting said zone, numbers only eight rated surface vessels with which to enforce our sovereignty. Mathematically, that requires each surface vessel to, individually, cover a region that is over half a million square kilometres. A task that is physically impossible to achieve. As such, it is a matter of urgency that the navy’s surface fleet be increased drastically to, at the bare minimum, protect our waters. Such an increase will, undoubtedly, require an expansion of naval real estate, which is currently limited to one location; the naval arsenal in Rio de Janeiro. To revert this shameful state of affairs His Imperial Majesty’s Government is committed to expanding the number of naval bases across the nation to provide The Empire with the necessary infrastructure with which to build a navy capable of defending its vast economic zone and territorial waters.

While protection of Brazil’s sovereign seas is the primary role of The Imperial Navy, it is necessary to also consider the secondary role of providing its fellow service branches with the ability to cross the seas and oceans. As demonstrated by our involvement in The Italian Front of The Second World War, Brazil has, on occasion, been required to look beyond its borders and fight overseas. Despite the numerous improvements that have been made to aircraft, the ability of the ship to carry vast amounts of men and material is unbeaten. With this in mind, it is also necessary to prepare the means by which we can, if necessary, unilaterally project Brazilian might across the seas. It is not practical to automatically assume that Brazil will be able to call upon the assistance of an ally to provide the necessary shipping to transport its forces, or secure beachheads. Therefore, attention must be given, even if it is not a priority, to establishing a Brazilian amphibious warfare capability. This will include the provision of specialist amphibious warfare vessels, such as landing ships and aircraft carriers, and a reinvigoration of the Corps of Naval Fusiliers as the spear tip of Brazilian amphibious operations.

[JakeDorent]

IMPERIAL BRAZILIAN AIR FORCE

The youngest arm of service, The Imperial Brazilian Air Force was created during the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas in 1941. As a result, all naval and army aviation was dismantled and transferred to the fledgling air force, and would quickly be involved in The Second World War. Maritime patrol aircraft assisted in scouring The Atlantic for German U-boats, and the 1st Fighter Aviation Group served as part of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force in The Italian Campaign. Since its baptism of fire, The Air Force has served alongside both the army and navy, and operated independently, in numerous incidents over the past 70 years. This includes supporting the navy during The Lobster War, bombing drug trafficking infrastructure in The Amazon, and intercepting a British Avro Vulcan strategic bomber that intruded in Brazilian air space during The Falklands War. However, in contrast to its contemporaries, the air force’s fleet is woefully ill-equipped. At the present time, the air force is reliant upon designs that are around 50 years old in the form of the French Mirage III and American Northrop F-5E fighters, while domestic aircraft, in the form of the AMX International and the products of Embraer, are younger, but lack the sophistication of modern aircraft utilised by most advanced nations. As such, in a near-peer conflict, The Empire would find itself easily defeated in its own skies, despite having the home advantage, and be at the mercy of enemy air forces. It is necessary that a greater investment be made within Brazil’s own aircraft technology, although Embraer has displayed countless times its ability to create capable aircraft, they lack the technology and resources necessary for certain projects and have to rely on the assistance of foreign companies and their expertise, meaning that Brazil’s capacity to create domestic designs rely on parties that lie beyond the Empire’s borders.

As part of a reevaluation of the air force’s role, it will no longer be the sole provider of air-based capabilities. Instead, an army aviation branch within the army’s command structure will be established to provide close air support via fixed and rotary-wing platforms, and helicopter transport, and a naval aviation branch will be created to perform the maritime patrol role in conjunction with the navy. The function of the air force will be to provide specialist capabilities, such as suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD), strategic bombing, interception and air superiority. The Air Force will deepen its relationship with Embraer, allowing it to become a source of research and development for the company’s military sector, and even the civilian sector in certain cases. Beyond aircraft, the Imperial Brazilian Air Force’s ground forces will not be neglected, with the development of strong air defence and early warning systems in cooperation with Avibras also being given attention and investment. To accomplish these goals, the Brazilian Air Force will undergo a significant expansion and modernization effort, increasing the number of overall aircraft, investing in the research and development of domestic aircraft designs, developing more capable air defence systems, early warning radar systems and integrated air and missile defence systems. The overall aim being to provide The Empire with air defence capabilities beyond those currently provided by foreign man-portable air defence systems, such as the Swedish RBS, and short-range anti-aircraft guns by Oerlikon and Bofors.