Brazil, Colombia and Peru to conduct joint training exercise

About 200 military from Brazil, Colombia and Peru will gather together for a multinational military training exercise. Called Amazonas I, the exercise will simulate an operation to combat illicit traffic from 19 to 23 June.

During the operation, a target aircraft will cross the airspace of the participating countries and be intercepted by their combat aircraft and monitoring platforms.

"A group of FAB [Brazilian Air Force] military personnel will accompany the flights in real time from Tabatinga (state of Amazonas) through a Colombian satellite tracking system called Horus”, said Major Solano Magalhães de Carvalho Vila Nova of the Air Force Preparation Command (Comprep), official coordinator of the final preparatory meeting of the exercise.

Peruvian Air Force Colonel Jaime Chavez Vizcarra, who came to Brazil for the final coordination meeting, said the event is a great opportunity to strengthen ties between the three countries. “It is important to keep our borders always in alert. Bilateral communications must also be constant," he said.

One pilot-air traffic controller duo from FAB will accompany the operations on the Peruvian side, while another will do the same in Colombia. The idea is to better understand how the three countries' air traffic control systems behave when a suspected aircraft is identified on the radars and how their air defence pilots carry out missions.

In turn, Brazil will play host to an air traffic controller from each country in one of the units of Brazil's Integrated Air Defence and Traffic Control Centre (CINDACTA IV), in the city of Manaus, while a pilot from Peru who will accompany the exercise in Tabatinga.