From August 27 to tomorrow, September 5 , according to information provided by the United States Army and the Southern Command, Southern Phoenix 24 is taking place, which is “the first exercise led by the US Army to deploy the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) platform within the US Southern Command area of operations, which will set the tone for new combat concepts in collaboration with the Chilean and Argentine Armies.”
The Zona Militar website describes that the US Army will deploy some 200 troops from the 11th Airborne Division, the 75th Field Artillery Brigade, the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, Joint Task Force-Bravo, the Joint Communications Support Element, the Texas Army National Guard, the Utah Army National Guard, the New York National Guard, and linguistic support from the Inter-American Air Force Academy. The Yankee forces will train alongside more than 300 Chilean Army troops from the 6th Division and representatives from the Argentine Army .
Southern Phoenix 24 aims to enhance technical and procedural interoperability between the U.S., Chilean, and Argentine militaries , fostering “stronger hemispheric cooperation and collaboration.” Activities are aligned with the Southern Command Campaign Plan and the U.S. National Defense Strategy, “contributing to the broader goal of strengthening security and defense partnerships across the region.”
The Zona Militar portal highlights that “the combined exercise will mark a milestone since it is the first deployment of a section of the M142 HIMARS system in the area of responsibility of the US Southern Command.” It also includes the presence of a fire direction center, as well as an airborne company of the US Army.
According to what was published by the Southern Command on its official networks, the M142 HIMARS are already in the Tarapacá theater of operations, north of Iquique , where different maneuvers will take place as part of Southern Fénix 24 .
As has become a characteristic of Milei's government, his policy of automatic alignment with the Western axis subjects our Armed Forces to participation alongside two of the main allies that the United Kingdom had during the 1982 conflict.
The Yankees point out that this type of exercise represents a “critical opportunity for all participating nations to hone their operational capabilities, demonstrating the power of their combined forces and their commitment to guarantee regional security and stability.” But in reality, this type of exercise is a clear demonstration of how the Southern Command influences the governments of the region, subordinating them to its imperialist strategy and moving them like pawns in a global chess game .
It is worth noting that Southern Phoenix 24 began after the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Charles Q. Brown , and the Head of the Southern Command, Laura Richardson , led the security conference in the trans-Andean country , in which the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Xavier Isaac , participated, and which we reported on from Agenda Malvinas last week. There, Richardson gave an outline of possible solutions to what the US considers threats in the region, such as the cases of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.
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