Brazilian Marine Corps
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|Brazilian Marine Corps|
Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais
Commandos of Brazilian Marine Corps.
|Active||1797 - present|
Ministry of Defence
|General-Command HQ||Rio de Janeiro|
|Commander-in-Chief||President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva|
|Commander of the Navy||Admiral Júlio Soares de Moura Neto|
|General-Commander of the Marine Corps||Admiral Álvaro Augusto Dias Monteiro|
Deployed nationwide, along the coasts, in the marginal regions of Amazônia and in the Pantanal, in peacetime it provides for the security of Naval installations and aids isolated populations through civic action programs in the Naval Districts. Externally, it provides security for the embassies of Brazil in Algeria, in Paraguay, in Haiti and in Bolivia. It has participated in all of the armed conflicts in the Military history of Brazil.
The badge consist of an encircled anchor superimposed over a pair of crossed rifles which is worn on all headgear while a similar badge without the circle is worn on the collar points of the dress and service uniforms.
The Royal Brigade of the Navy
The Brazilian Marines trace their origin to 1808 when the troops of the Royal Brigade of the Navy (the Portuguese Marine Corps) arrived in Brazil (then a Portuguese colony) when Mary I of Portugal and her son and regent John VI fled Europe during the Napoleonic Wars.
The baptism of fire: the conquest of Cayenne
Later, the unit was involved in diverse campaigns, in the War of the independence of Brazil, in the conflicts of the basin of the River Plate, and in War of the Triple Alliance. In this last one, it was distinguished in action in the Battle of Riachuelo and in taking of Humaitá.
United Nations service
The CFN if has participated in the humanitarian actions promoted by UN in such diverse theaters of operation as Bosnia, Honduras, Moçambique, Ruanda, Angola, East Timor, and recently, in Haiti (MINUSTAH).
The Corps today
Staff and mission
With about 15,000 men, all volunteers, professionals in combat on land, air and sea, its mission is to guarantee the projection of the naval power on land, by means of landings carried through with ships and staff of the Navy.
In the case of Brazil this is a complex mission, since the country has a territory of about 8,5 million km² (3.28 million sq. miles), a coast of more than 7,400 km (4600 miles) with many oceanic islands, and a navigable waterways network of approximately 50,000 km (31,000 miles). This last one includes the Brazilian Amazon. To cover climates and natural landscapes so diversified as Pampas of Rio Grande Do Sul, pantanal of Mato Grosso do Sul, deserts of the Northeast region and Amazonian Rainforest, demands a training of the highest standards, agility and versatility. Therefore, there are units trained in demolition techniques, special operations, combat in forests, mountain and ice, and helicopter-transported operations.
Trained as a Fast Deployment Unit, recently, with the sending of Brazilian military observers, also integrating the Peacekeeping Forces of the United Nations, the Marines have made their presence in distinctive areas of conflict as El Salvador, Bosnia, Angola, Moçambique, Ruanda, Peru, Ecuador, East Timor and, more recently, Haiti.
The Corps headquarters is located in Fortaleza de São José, Ilha das Cobras, Rio de Janeiro.
Fleet Marine Force
The Fleets Marine Force (Força de Fuzileiros da Esquadra (FFE)) consists of the following units:
- 1st Amphibious Division (Divisão Anfíbia (DivAnf)) of brigade size with the following:
- Command and Control Battalion (Batalhão de Comando e Controle),
- Three Marine Battalions (Infantry) (Batalhão de Fuzileiros Navais (BFN)):
- 1st "Riachuelo" Battalion,
- 2nd "Humaita" Battalion
- 3rd "Paissandu" Battalion
- Marine's Artillery Battalion (Batalhão de Artilharia de Fuzileiros Navais),
- Armoured Vehicle Battalion (Batalhão de Blindados), with 17 SK 105 tank destroyers
- Tactical Air Control and Air-defense Battalion (Batalhão de Controle Aerotático e Defesa Antiaérea)
- Governor's Island Marine Base (Base de Fuzileiros Navais da Ilha do Governador),
- Reinforcement Troops (Tropa de Reforço (TrRef)) located in Ilha das Flores in São Gonçalo (RJ)
- 1st Marine Engineer Battalion (Batalhão de Engenharia de Fuzileiros Navais),
- 1st Marine Logistic Battalion (Batalhão Logístico de Fuzileiros Navais),
- Amphibious Vehicles Battalion (Batalhão de Viaturas Anfíbias), with 13 AAV-7A1 ,9 LVTP-7A1, 2 LVTC-7A1 and 1 LVTR-7A1
- Police Company (Companhia de Polícia)
- Landing Company (Apoio ao Desembarque) - a company sized unit responsible for the loading and unloading of troops and equipment from ships, especially landing craft.
- Isle of Flowers Marine Base (Base de Fuzileiros Navais da Ilha das Flores),
- Disembarkation Troops Command (Comando da Tropa de Desembarque (ComTrDbq)), located at Duque de Caxias (RJ) - provides the means to command, control and administer the Command of the Fleet Marine Force and to also local units.
- Marine's Special Operations Battalion "Tonelero" (Batalhão de Operações Especiais de Fuzileiros Navais (Batalhão Tonelero)) A unit similar to US Navy SEALs formed in 1957 and structured for high risk operations. Its mission is to destroy or damage prominent objectives in heavily defended areas, capture or rescue personnels or equipment, seize installations, obtain information, mislead and produce psychological effects.
- Rio Meriti Naval Marine Base (Base de Fuzileiros Navais do Rio Meriti (BFNRM)), located in Duque de Caxias (RJ)
- ships detachments
"Groupings of Marine Corps" (Grupamentos de Fuzileiros Navais (GFN)) are subordinate to the Naval Districts (Distritos Navais), for the security of naval installations, as well as performing operations in support of Naval District. They are located in the vicinity of the local Naval District headquarters. The 8th Naval District does not possess any such grouping. GFNs are companies the size of small battalions.
- GFN do Rio de Janeiro, RJ (1st DN)
- GFN de Salvador, Bahia (2nd DN)
- GFN de Natal, Rio Grande do Norte (3rd DN)
- GFN de Belém, Pará (4th DN)
- GFN de Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul (5th DN)
- GFN de Ladário, Mato Grosso do Sul (6th DN)
- GFN de Brasília, Distrito Federal (7th DN)
- Riparian Operations Battalion (Batalhão de Operações Ribeirinhas), Manaus, Amazonia (9th DN)
To fulfill its missions, the Marines are disembarked off the ships of the Brazilian Navy, be it using landing boats, amphibious vehicles or helicopters. For this they count on the support of the navy and/or sea and air support.
On land, it operates its normal ways, which include tanks, field artillery, antiaircraft artillery, combat engineering, communications and electronic warfare.
To fulfill its missions, fusiliers must pass a rigorous physical training program, normally with many runs, calisthenics, sleep deprivation, swimming while holding their breath, practice shooting with diverse armaments, especially metal rings, rappeling and, in some cases, combat.
The motto of the Corps is “Adsumus”, that in Latin means: Here we are!
The Brazilian Marines wear several different uniforms.
The Corps has a modern arsenal, composed by:
|M4||Special forces weapon|
File:Beretta 92 FS.gif
|Parker Hale M85||Sniper|
|FN MAG||Machine gun|
|FN MINIMI||Assault Rifle|
|SK 105||Light tank||17|
|AAV-7A1||Armoured personnel carrier||26|
|M113A1||Armoured personnel carrier||29|
|Mowag Piranha III (8x8)||Armoured personnel carrier||30||File:Irish Army Mowag Piranha.JPG|
|Bofors 40 mm gun||Autocannon||6|
|MANPADS Mistral||Surface-to-air missile||6|
Marines in combat training.
Marine corps COMMANDO, COMANF.
GRUMEC in "SABOTAGE" training.