Campo Grande (MS) – The Brazilian Army, through the Western Military Command, is conducting a major operation to prepare its troops in various regions of the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. Expected to last until October 22, Operation Pantanal brings together around 3,000 military personnel and 400 vehicles, as well as helicopters, boats and means of the Integrated Border Monitoring System (SISFRON), which allows activities to be monitored in real time. The operation also includes military personnel from the Brazilian Navy and the Brazilian Air Force.
The exercise is part of the Western Military Command’s Advanced Training Program, which includes all Brigades, major commands and their directly subordinate military organizations. The objectives of Operation Pantanal are to train the troops involved to act in war situations; to exercise tactical planning for external defence and to experiment with ways of using and organizing the Land Force.
The activity is also an opportunity to exercise the ability to mobilize and concentrate tactical and logistical resources; to expand the capabilities of the Western Military Command in coordinating multidomain operations; and to practice activities linked to the process of planning and conducting land operations. Based on operations in a war situation, the activity’s combat actions are the March into Combat and the Coordinated Attack, in a context where the objective is the evacuation of civilians.
Troops
Operation Pantanal includes soldiers from the 4th Mechanized Cavalry Brigade; the 13th Motorized Infantry Brigade; the 18th Pantanal Infantry Brigade; the 3rd Engineering Group; the 9th Logistics Group; the 9th Army Police Battalion; the 9th Communications and Electronic Warfare Battalion; the 9th Military Region; the 6th Military Intelligence Battalion; the CMO Administration and Support Base; the 3rd Army Aviation Battalion; the Special Operations Command; the Paratrooper Infantry Brigade (Santos Dumont Task Force), from Rio de Janeiro (RJ); and soldiers from the Brazilian Navy’s 6th Naval District and the Brazilian Air Force’s Campo Grande Air Base.
Source: Western Military Command