Chapter Eight: Latin America and the Caribbean

Ageing inventories and a lack of adequate funding for replacements are a limiting factor on the capabilities of many of the region’s armed forces. Some regional armed forces remain active on internal security duties, with some nations also introducing legislation to enable these deployments. Latin America’s defence industries saw a notable development in 2018 with the planned tie-up between Boeing and Embraer. Both firms have agreed to create new joint venture dedicated to defence sales, notably of the KC-390. Meanwhile, Saab has started building the Gripen facility in Brazil. Regional navies continue development of littoral patrol and manoeuvre capabilities, including with locally-produced patrol craft. Brazil’s acquisition of the former-HMS Ocean introduces a large aviation platform with potentially more useable capability than hitherto into the region. Regional defence spending has bottomed out in the wake of stronger economic growth, after two years of cuts to defence spending.