Latin American Military - Chile

Revised: February 1, 1999
Copyright © 1997-1999 by Juan Carlos Barroux R.

The Chilean military is a special organisation in Latin America. It is a very professional set of institutions that are still plagued by the memory of their participation in the political life of the country.

The Army has historically followed a number of influences, first Spanish, then French (1879 war) and then Prussian (1891 civil war). They are the last Prussian Army of the world, which is an anachronism in these days. As such they derive both the strengths and flaws of the Prussian model.

The Navy has a strong and old "blue navy" tradition modeled after the British Navy. The equipment is somewhat old but kept very clean and in good working order. Most important, the crew usually knows how to use it well.

The Air Force was initially modeled after the Royal Air Force but then was heavily influenced by the US Air Force after WWII. Today most of the influence is from the IDF with some local additions. They have old equipment that is kept in good work order and upgraded with new electronics when the budget allows.

The Gendarmery used to be a civilian organisation but now has evolved into a militarized institution in charge of both the normal police work and the traditional Gendarmery roles.

The current challenges of the Chilean military organisations are, in order of importance, to get over the strained military-civilian relations by acknowledging past mistakes, to modernise itself by embracing the digitalisation and professionalisation of the integrated battlefield and to maintain a dissuasive force without following Perú in its arms race.

Even if the Chilean armed forces lead the subcontinent when it comes to integrated all forces training (with Argentina a close second) they are still far from current standards in Western countries. Rivalry between institutions is an issue and can be clearly seen by the lack of joint training facilities, each branch of the armed forces maintaining its own set of training and educational facilities. For example, no flight crew rotation between branches is in effect.

Each branch of the armed forces fights for their own share of the budget, with the Army getting the lion's share, followed by the Navy and then the Air Force. This represents a structural challenge to be solved because in most Western countries the Air Force usually gets the biggest part of the defense budget. Recent conflicts (both Gulf Wars, Cenepa, Chechenia, etc.) have shown to all that the country with the second best Air Force always loose and this must be translated into the defense budgets even at the cost of bending the Army will to fight wars à la mode de 1914.

Organisations

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