Coleção Meira Mattos: revista das ciências militares

Indigenous Soldiers in the Brazilian Amazon

Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Editorial.

Barbecue, Jerked beef, and Sardines

Fernando Velôzo Gomes Pedrosa — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 13:19:10 +0000

The Triple Alliance War brought unprecedented logistical demands to the Imperial Brazilian Army. Before that, the largest land force employed in external operations had been the army corps sent to the Platine War (1851-52), composed of just over 16,000 men, in operations that lasted for five months, with the occurrence of just one battle. The Triple Alliance War lasted for more than five years, during which the Brazilian Army had to provide supplies and services to an army of almost 50,000 men, deployed thousands of kilometers away from the main support bases located in Brazilian territory and operating on a theater of war only accessible by sea and river. This article evaluates the organization and performance of Brazilian Army's logistic structure during the conflict, specifically in terms of war industry; supplies; transportation; and health services.

What are the socioeconomic consequences of the presence of a military organization in the municipalities along the border band?

Carlos Henrique Arantes de Moraes, Tássio Franchi, Marcos Menezes da Rocha — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

One of the characteristics of the Brazilian frontier, particularly in the Amazon region, is the low levels of social and economic development. The Brazilian Army, in addition to having a secular presence strategy in that region, welcomes and remunerates young people from the municipalities where its Military Organizations (OM, in Portuguese) are installed. In view of this, research was conducted that seeks to explain the contributions of the of the OM in the generation of employment, income, and development in the municipalities of the border strip in Arco Norte. To answer the following question: how does the presence of an OM directly contribute to the generation of employment and income in a municipality in Arco Norte? The overall objective is to understand the impact of a State institution in a region far from the major economic centers and geographically isolated from the rest of the country and how state investment promotes a dialogue with the Human Development Index (HDI). The focus of the work was the 124 municipalities with territories in the Border Strip of the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, and Roraima, and, within these states, those municipalities with the presence of OM. Primary economic indicators were collected from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) database, and governmental data referring to the pay of the military and numbers of the variable personnel of the analyzed OM. The method for data analysis was univariate inferential statistics, with the support of the SPSS software in carrying out the tests. The spatialization and clipping of the sample were carried out with the support of the QGis georeferencing software. The results were analyzed seeking to confirm the hypotheses raised from historical arguments of the strategy of presence.

A review and classification of technology readiness assessment techniques based on TRL scale

Sat, 17 Feb 2024 20:02:08 +0000

The Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) emerged in the late 1970s, proposed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). There are nine levels that seek to measure the maturity of a technology or product. The process that aims to assess the TRL level of a technology or product is called Technology Readiness Assessment (TRA). In the early 2000s, the TRL scale began to be used by industry and governments around the world, leading to an increase in the importance of TRA. Given this scenario, this work aimed to investigate the existing approaches in the literature for the execution of TRA based on the TRL scale. For that, a systematic review of the literature was conducted on scientific article databases and thesis and dissertation repositories. As a result of the review, three groups of approaches were identified: one based on human experts, another that uses a calculator to support the expert, and, finally, a third that uses semi-automatic or automatic tools, such as bibliometric indicators and text mining algorithms. The study identified the advantages and disadvantages of each of these approaches, as well as gaps still open in the literature.

Operation Anadyr

Marco Antonio De Freitas Coutinho — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Cuban Missile Crisis, which took place 60 years ago, put the world one step away from a nuclear war, whose outcome included the direct participation of the president of the United States of America (USA), John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and the Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Nikita Khrushchev. The complex operation for the strategic displacement of a Soviet contingent with strategic and tactical nuclear capabilities to Cuba, which received the military designation of Operation Anadyr, had more than 44 thousand military personnel and required about 80 ships for transport, constituting the first and only time that an effective of this scale of the USSR was deployed in the Americas, and is considered the spark of the conflict. In this sense, to better understand the Cuban Missile Crisis and identify possible lessons learned for the current moment, this article sought to recall the events of October 1962, shedding light on lesser-known aspects of the decision-making process, strategy development, and the preparation, deployment, and execution of Operation Anadyr, in addition to seeking to identify US actions developed to counter Soviet threats, as they were perceived at the time.

Humanitarian intervention in light of ethical and legal foundations of International Law

Bárbara Thaís Pinheiro Silva, Danny Zahreddine — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 13:47:41 +0000

Discussions on humanitarian intervention are far from reaching a consensus, mainly due to the tenuous line between international politics and international law. The difficulties in reconciling the normative and ethical aspects that enable humanitarian intervention make this a complex issue. Given this scenario, this qualitative case study based on bibliographical-documentary research analyzes (i) the historical context of humanitarian interventions in the 1990s, (ii) the five main cases of (non)intervention in the 1990s (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti and Kosovo), and (ii) the ethical and legal foundations that justify humanitarian intervention.

The strategic relevance of a conventional nuclear-powered submarine for the Brazilian state

Alan Azevedo Messeder, Gustavo André Pereira Guimarães, Nival Nunes de Almeida — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 20:08:42 +0000

The choice of the Brazilian state for the construction and operation of the Conventional Nuclear Propulsion Submarine (CNPS) has been criticized and questioned by civil society and international actors. This work aims to verify the legitimacy of the CNPS project, analyzing its relevance at the political and strategic level. By the exploratory-descriptive qualitative method, the CNPS project is approached from the strategic perspective, exposing technical and academic grounds and arguments. The research reveals that only with the CNPS will the country have the ability to undertake effective deterrence by denial in its strategic environment. Its unique characteristics will mainly guarantee the sovereign right to preserve territorial integrity, the protection of the resources involved in Brazilian Jurisdictional Waters (BJW) and the Blue Amazon, as well as the protection of maritime communication lines in terms of the constitutional purpose of the Brazilian Navy. The authors conclude that the CNPS is compatible and adequate to the strategic vision of Brazilian national defense.

The Russian-Ukrainian Cyber War

Fri, 16 Feb 2024 14:04:11 +0000

What lessons can the Brazilian Army learn about cyber defense in terms of attacks on critical infrastructures in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine? With the evolution of the use of cyberspace, there has been a significant increase in attacks aimed at affecting a State’ critical infrastructures. The aim of this work is to analyze what lessons the Brazilian Army can learn from the Russian attacks on Ukrainian critical infrastructures. Thus,with exploratory methodology, the text focuses on understanding the background to the conflict, what actions are being used by Russia to affect Ukraine and how actions within the theater of operations can be related to Brazil’s National Cybersecurity Strategy. Therefore, this text points out the changes in Russian strategy linked to the use and adaptation of cyber attacks critical infrastructures, addressing possible lessons that the Brazilian Army can absorb.

Is Brazil Really a “Diplomatic Dwarf?”

Ricardo Rodrigues Freire — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 20:13:58 +0000

This text seeks to present some reflections of Brazilian scholars on the subject and on previous actions carried out to develop a national project that is constant and immune to domestic or external political oscillations. The research had as a motivation factor the recurrence of the epithet “diplomatic dwarf” to Brazil, recovering each occasion when the country takes a stand about sensitive themes in the international scenario. This work has a qualitative-analytic methodological bias and is based on bibliographic and hemerographic sources. The text contains ideas professed by different authors, with emphasis on Golbery do Couto e Silva, Hélio Jaguaribe, and Jorge Calvario dos Santos. It also contemplates reflections on the Brazilian War College (ESG) foundation, its inspiration, and purpose. For didactic reasons, the content has been divided into four sections. The first has an introductory and conceptual feature. The second exposes contemporary national strategic thinkers’ experiences. The third focuses on the institutional capability to develop a methodology destined to design a national strategic thinking and, to end the text, in the fourth section, are the final considerations on the topics issued and a brief evaluation on the impropriety of the label “diplomatic dwarf” to Brazil.

Entrevista com o Coordenador Operacional da Operação Acolhida (2021-2023)

Sérgio Schwingel, Gustavo da Frota Simões, Tássio Franchi — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Entrevista com o Coordenador Operacional da Operação Acolhida (2021-2023): General de Divisão Sérgio Schwingel

REVIEW: A questão geopolítica da Amazônia

Everaldo Bastos Furtado — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The book A questão geopolítica da Amazônia: da soberania difusa à soberania restrita [The geopolitical issue of the Amazon: from diffuse sovereignty to restrict sovereignty] approaches the Evolution of the importance of the Amazon and of Brazilian sovereignty over the region. Nelson Ribeiro, author of the book, highlights the increasing International attention to the Amazon, especially during the Second World War due to the interest in the rubber and the war efforts. Ribeiro also discusses the attempts of internationalization of the Amazon and the reaction of the Amazonian countries, in addition to state intervention programs in the region. The author analyzes the mineral exploration in the Amazon and the International pressure on Brazil, emphasizing the Brazilian diplomatic strategy to defend the sustainable development of the region, including the project of environmental monitoring of the Sistema de Vigilância da Amazônia (SIVAM – Amazon Vigilance System) and the Sistema de Proteção da Amazônia (SIPAM – Amazon Protection System).