Brazilian Naval Aviation

The Brazilian Naval Aviation () is the air component of the Brazilian Navy, currently called ''Força Aeronaval''. Most of its air structure is subordinated to the Naval Air Force Command (''Comando da Força Aeronaval'', ComForAerNav), the military organization responsible for providing operational air support from Navy vessels, while four squadrons are subordinated to the Naval Districts, responsible for inland and coastal waters. ComForAerNav is headquartered at the Naval Air Base of São Pedro da Aldeia, where all aircraft fleet level maintenance is carried out and where the Aeronaval Instruction and Training Center (''Centro de Instrução e Adestramento Aeronaval'', CIAAN) is located, which forms its staff. Its pilots, all officers with one to three years of prior naval experience, fly its helicopters, airplanes and Remotely Piloted Aircraft (''Aeronaves Remotamente Pilotadas''; ARPs, or drones) as extensions of the ships' weaponry and sensors.

The first phase of Naval Aviation in Brazil began in 1916, with the creation of the Naval Aviation School. Brazilian naval aviators were sent abroad in World War I, participating in real patrol operations, and the Naval Aviation, focused on seaplanes, developed rapidly in the following decades and created a common identity with Army aviators. This period ended in 1941, when president Getúlio Vargas, going against the Ministry of the Navy, transferred all military aviation in the country to the newly created Brazilian Air Force (FAB). During the Second World War, the FAB was in charge of important patrol aviation along the coast, but the need for a body of embarked aircraft became evident abroad. Therefore, the Navy recreated its Directorate of Aeronautics in 1952, acquired the ''Navio-Aeródromo Ligeiro'' (NAeL, that is, aircraft carrier) ''Minas Gerais'' in 1956 and invested heavily in a fleet of helicopters and planes and in a new cadre of aviators. In this second phase, the embarked aviation issue generated a serious conflict between the Brazilian Navy and the FAB, as the latter wanted a monopoly on military aviation.

In 1965, president Castelo Branco issued a new decree, prohibiting the Navy from operating fixed-wing aircraft (airplanes), but authorizing rotary-wing aircraft (helicopters). Thus began a third phase, with the FAB embarking its planes in ''Minas Gerais'', and the Navy developing its operations with helicopters. Embarked even on small ships, rotary wing aircraft remain the main element of Naval Aviation, even in the following phases. The focus of air-naval operations was anti-submarine warfare, but several of the helicopters also received anti-ship missiles, and their versatility for reconnaissance and transport is put to good use. The Marine Corps values them for amphibious operations. Squadrons of instruction (HI-1), attack (HA-1), anti-submarine (HS-1) and general purpose (HU-1 and 2) helicopters were organized. From 1979, the district means expanded Naval Aviation beyond Rio de Janeiro. The Navy's change of priorities and the retirement of the FAB's 1st Group of Embarked Aviation (GAE) culminated in a fourth phase: in 1998, a new decree allowed the Navy to operate fixed-wing aircraft, authorizing its purchase of A-4 Skyhawk jets to organize the 1st Interceptor and Strike Fighter Squadron (VF-1). Faced with the imminent retirement of ''Minas Gerais'', a new aircraft carrier was purchased, the NAe ''São Paulo''.

The VF-1 was celebrated as an achievement in air defense for the Brazilian Navy, national power projection and the evolution to a blue water navy, but both the jets and the new aircraft carrier suffered from serious unavailability issues. ''São Paulo'' was retired in 2017, locking the Skyhawks on land bases, with service forecast until 2030. However, the demand for a helicopter platform was met by the purchase of NAM ''Atlântico'' in 2020. Investments in helicopters continued in the 2010s and 2020, with new UH-12 Esquilo, small, but the most numerous in the air fleet, and the larger Super Cougar, SH-16 Seahawk and Super Lynx. Plans for a 1st Transport and Early Warning Airplane Squadron (VEC-1), crucial to supporting the VF-1, were abandoned. The activation of the 1st Squadron of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (QE-1) in 2022, allowing for greater development in the areas of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, inaugurated the fifth phase.

Function and mission

Naval Aviation can be classified into embarked air wings; organic aircraft from warships; marine corps aviation and land-based naval aviation. Even smaller classes of ships, such as those for river patrols, can operate helicopters, but only the aircraft carrier class or ''Navio-Aeródromo'' (NAe), in the Brazilian Navy terminology, also operates airplanes, having aircraft as its ''raison d'être'' and offers a complete support structure at sea. The 2008 National Defense Strategy also categorized the neologism "Multipurpose Ship" (''Navio de Propósitos Múltiplos'', NPM), which serves as a helicopter carrier, but only operates fixed-wing aircraft if they are STOVL vertical landing. Abroad, they are known by acronyms such as LHD, LHA and LPA. Landing on ships is a complex and risky task for planes and helicopters.

The main mission of the Brazilian Naval Aviation is, in the official definition, "to provide air support to the Operational Commands, in order to contribute to the various uses of the Naval Power". In this way, ships are more than landing sites for aircraft, and both operate symbiotically; one can shoot at a target identified by the other, for example. The aircraft expand the squadron's weapons and sensors, providing greater detection capacity and contact with the enemy at greater altitudes and distances, being able to launch ammunition beyond the visual horizon. Thus, they contribute to maritime area control, sea command, and land power projection in amphibious operations.

Aircraft carriers and fixed wing aircraft

Since World War II (1939–1945) aviation has been indispensable to fleets, and the aircraft carrier its backbone, although there is already controversy about the obsolescence of large surface ships in the 21st century. When Brazil acquired its first aircraft carrier, in the context of the Cold War, its hypothesis of employment was anti-submarine warfare to defend, allied to the United States, maritime trade lines during a possible war. This function still exists, but has lost priority with the development of autonomous strategic thinking and the idea, since the 1990s, of a "balanced squadron", with its own air coverage. The desire of power projection defended by the writers of the ''Revista Marítima Brasileira'' magazine began to materialize at the beginning of the 21st century, when the Brazilian Navy was able to board jets at NAe ''São Paulo''.

The first guideline of the 2008 National Defense Strategy refers, in the context of the " Blue Amazon", to the deterrence of possible hostile forces within Brazilian jurisdiction. Therefore, for the Brazilian naval doctrine, the central objective of its existence is the denial of the use of the sea to the enemy, having the capacity to keep the maritime areas and inland waters with political, strategic, economic and military importance under control. To accomplish this, the squadron must be able to defend itself against any threats, especially aerial ones. In the midst of all the essential naval resources for an effective and balanced naval power, it is necessary for the Navy to have air resources on board a ''Navio-Aeródromo'' (NAe), because, when the Navy has it, it is endowed with greater mobility, flexibility , versatility and permanence, allowing the Navy to fulfill missions in a wide spectrum, that is, both humanitarian and peaceful as well as those of crisis or war.

By having a wide range of air assets, in addition to command and control systems and the support infrastructure for air operations, aviation embarked on an NAe becomes capable of projecting its force, controlling certain maritime areas, assisting in denying the use of the sea and in non-nuclear deterrence, thus fulfilling the four basic objectives of Brazilian naval power. It is especially important for air superiority, especially away from Brazilian coasts, where the reach of the Brazilian Air Force is limited. Even with the sharing of personnel between the forces, the differences between naval and air force doctrine are evident, as the doctrine of the latter hinders the mobility, flexibility and permanence vital for the proper use of naval power. For this reason, the NAe, due to its versatility of functions, becomes the main means for obtaining air superiority and fulfilling the trinity "control, mobility and presence".

Interception aircraft aboard a NAe, vectored by Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft and supported by airborne refueling aircraft, can defend a naval force from attack by aircraft and missiles and deny freedom of action to opposing air reconnaissance. Together with the missiles and cannons installed on ships, they form the aerospace defense of the naval force. This discussion is theoretical; the Navy has no real combat experience with the aircraft on board, and in 2016 the anti-air defense of its ships was limited and the air defense was inoperative. Brazil does not have interceptor aircraft on board a NAe; since the deactivation of ''São Paulo'' in 2017, the small air fleet of this category has been in limbo.

Rotary-wing aircraft

Helicopters are the most developed branch of Brazilian Naval Aviation. Its squadrons are instruction, anti-submarine, light and attack, and general purpose. The "general duty" helicopters have functions such as liaison and observation, hydrographic services, aircraft transport and guarding, but even the other squadrons have diverse missions. A helicopter spares the ship of needlessly revving its engines or returning to port. At the base in São Pedro da Aldeia there is always an alert helicopter for service ships and another for an urgent aeromedical evacuation, even for a merchant ship, or an unscheduled delivery of cargo.

General employment district squadrons fly in inland waters and on the coast with operational missions (patrol, inspection of ships and combating smuggling and other illegal activities) and social missions, representing the Navy to the population in remote regions of the Amazon and Pantanal. Its operations are simpler, due to the balance of ships and proximity to land, but helicopters can spend weeks away from the base or any other support structure. Smaller helicopters for general use are also required by the ''Grupamento de Navios Hidroceanográficos'' and the Brazilian Antarctic Program.

Larger helicopters, such as the Super Cougar and SH-16 Seahawk, require more deck space to serve on board. In the Brazilian Navy's means in 2020, this was only available in ''Atlântico'', on the Multipurpose Dock Ship (''Navio-Doca Multipropósito'', NDM) ''Bahia'' and on three Combat Vehicle Landing Ships (''Navios de Desembarque de Carros de Combate'', NDCC). Frigates and corvettes can supply them in flight, but only smaller helicopters such as the Super Lynx, Esquilo and Jet Ranger can land. Ocean patrol ships also have space, but without their own hangar.

Although considered essential for air defense on the high seas, the NAe can be replaced in anti-submarine and surface warfare by other naval personnel equipped with air assets on board. In an amphibious helicopter operation, an amphibious assault ship relieves the NAe's work. The Marine Corps (''Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais'', CFN), which would be leading the amphibious operation, would make extensive use of helicopters for infantry transport and fire support with machine guns and missiles. Its doctrine has been studying the role of helicopters for decades, and there is the idea of an organic CFN aviation, as it already exists among the marine corps of other countries. The partnership between the marines and Naval Aviation is old, but helicopters currently have to divide their attention to several other tasks.

History

First phase

Creation

Recognizing the potential of air power right from the start, in 1908 the Brazilian Navy was already studying the acquisition of airships and airplanes. Just five years after Santos Dumont's pioneering flight, in 1911, lieutenant Jorge Henrique Moller, the first Brazilian military pilot, received his license on 29 April, in France, and was also the founder of the Aeroclube Brasileiro. The Brazilian Army and Navy enrolled officers at the Brazilian Aviation School, founded in 1914, but the school went bankrupt in less than five months. The first steps in the country's aviation were difficult, and it lacked an aeronautical industry. The Navy was a pioneer in this field; on 23 August 1916, Decree No. 12,167, promulgated by president Venceslau Brás, created the Naval Aviation School, and thus the Brazilian Naval Aviation. The first planes were bought with a popular fund that tried to raise the necessary money to finance the battleship '' Riachuelo''. As the target sum was not achieved, the resulting money was used to purchase these planes. There were three Curtiss F model 1914 seaplane purchased in the United States. Previously the Navy targeted France's Farman Aviation Works, but it was focused on World War I.

Three months after the creation of the Naval Aviation School, lieutenants Augusto Schorcht, Vianna Bandeira and Carvalho e Silva were named the first three naval aviators. Some pioneers of the Brazilian Army Aviation (which would take longer to create its Aviation School) were also formed in the school. In 1917–1918 Naval Aviation was already structured enough to send volunteers for air training in the United Kingdom (eight officers for the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Air Force), the United States (two officers and one non-commissioned officer for the Naval Air Service of the U.S. Navy) and Italy. In the U.K. and U.S., they gained experience flying anti-submarine patrols. The force's first casualties occurred in training accidents in the United Kingdom.

1920s

At the end of the war, in 1918, the purchase of aircraft became easier. There was instruction for land operating apparatus, but hydroplanes were more important, as the objective was to identify or attack opposing forces and thus provide support for the Navy. The predominant origin was in the United States, as the Navy was under the influence of an American training mission. In 1923, the first three squadrons were formed, respectively for bombing and patrol (fourteen Curtiss F 5L), reconnaissance (eighteen SVA-10) and fighter (twelve Sopwith 7F-1 Spite). The Naval Aviation corps was composed of the Warplanes Flotilla, subordinated to the Navy, but operated by the Naval Aviation School, which, in turn, was subordinated to the General Staff of the Navy. The Naval Aviation School was headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, originally in the old Navy Arsenal, at Mauá Square, then in Enxadas Island and finally, after 1924, in Ponta do Galeão, in Governador Island.

The development of Naval Aviation had a series of milestones in the interwar period, starting in 1919, when the Navy's Air Mail was established, which would be transformed into Naval Air Mail in 1934. In the 1920s, the Air Force Directorate was established. Navy (1923) and the Naval Air Reserve (1926). The development was evidenced by air raids, the first of which was carried out in 1923, reaching Aracaju, Sergipe. In the same period, preparations for future bases in Santos and Santa Catarina and aerial surveys of the coast were already under way.

In politics, the emergence of ''tenentism'' had among its first episodes the discovery of a plan by young naval aviators to bomb president Epitácio Pessoa's entourage in 1922. Months later, two Naval Aviation aircraft bombed the rebels at Copacabana Fort during its revolt. The bombs fell into the water or did not cause material damage. In the 1924 São Paulo Revolt, the 1st and 2nd F5L Squadrons, two HS-2L and two Curtiss MF were transferred to Santos in July, from where they flew missions to support the Navy and reconnaissance of the coast between Itanhaém and Bertioga. One of them was lost in an accident while chasing a revolutionary aircraft that dropped leaflets on the Navy. In August two Curtiss MF participated in the Northern Division, the naval force sent against the Manaus Commune. In October, airman sergeant Bráulio Gouveia joined the revolt on the battleship ''São Paulo'' and managed to reach the ship, but was wounded and had his seaplane destroyed by cannons from the loyalist coastal artillery. In 1930, Naval Aviation still had precarious organization and equipment, with few planes available. The most recent were three Martin PM seaplanes, for patrol, and six Vought O2U-2A Corsair, for bombardment, acquired by the Washington Luís government (1926–1930) to protect itself against rebel movements.

1930s

With the arrival of the 1930s and the administration of admiral Protógenes Guimarães, there was a growing impulse in the Brazilian Navy for the use of airplanes as a war force, something practically non-existent at that time. This decade was marked by several experiments such as the release of smoke with a tactical-naval effect and the introduction of aircraft formations in air shows. However, this time was also marked by social upheavals, more specifically the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932, in which the Navy joined the legalist forces, carrying out several operations with the fleet. The highlights of this decade were the installation of the Aviation Centers in Rio de Janeiro, in 1931, Santa Catarina, in 1932 and Santos, in 1933; the organization of the Coastal Air Defense and the Navy Aviation Corps, in 1933, the creation of the Porto Alegre Naval Aviation Base, in the same year, and the Division of Aviation Medicine, in 1936. A squadron was deployed to the river border with Bolivia and Paraguay in 1934, when the two countries were fighting the Chaco War

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