Latin America Defense Monitor — July 2–7, 2026

The Bottom Line Up Front: This is the busiest week for the region’s militaries since the big FIDAE arms fair in April. Salitre shows six air forces learning to fly side by side. The ministers’ meeting in Cusco is where those working relationships get turned into policy. Colombia’s 12-billion-dollar plan, if it actually happens, would be the biggest single defence buy in Latin American history — and its choice of Swedish Gripens ties it closely to Brazil, which flies the same jet. Argentina’s new missiles finally give its fighters real long-range punch. Chile, meanwhile, said out loud that Washington places “no restrictions” on it buying the stealth F-35 — a hint it may aim higher than expected. And after the June 24 earthquakes in Venezuela, several militaries — including Brazil’s — have flown in to help, a rescue effort we track further down.

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The fifth edition of Exercise Salitre began at Cerro Moreno air base near Antofagasta, with warplanes from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the United States and Paraguay. This week the live-flying part got under way over the Atacama Desert, with Chilean F-16 and F-5 jets flying as the pretend enemy so the others can practise against them.

Colombia sent four of its small A-29 Super Tucano turboprops — its first time ever in a Chilean drill, a sign of how much closer Brazil, Colombia and Chile have grown. A Chilean tanker plane refuelled other jets in the air, building on a milestone in April when the same kind of tanker fuelled two American F-35 stealth fighters for the first time.

One US F-35 pilot later said the Chileans “exceeded my expectations by far.” Chilean and US crews trained together on July 7.

The drill runs into mid-July and covers everything from air-to-air combat to supporting troops on the ground and refuelling in flight. President Kast is expected to visit on July 8.

What it means: Salitre is the real-world test of everything the region’s air forces have been buying and talking about. Six countries flying combined missions — Colombian turboprops next to Chilean F-16s, American jets and Brazilian and Argentine planes — simply did not happen three years ago. It quietly tests three relationships at once: Chile’s growing ties to the US (the F-35 refuelling), Colombia lining up with Brazil (both now leaning on the Swedish Gripen), and Argentina finding its feet again after decades of decline. And nowhere else in the region offers the empty skies and harsh desert that make this drill so useful.

President Gustavo Petro laid out the most ambitious military overhaul Colombia has ever attempted: 80 new aircraft, including 17 Swedish Gripen fighter jets, plus transport planes and 46 helicopters to replace an ageing fleet. The plan also adds 94 boats (patrol, coast-guard and river craft), 127 armoured vehicles that Petro wants built in Colombia, 111,000 rifles made at home by the state arms firm Indumil, and a national shield to detect and bring down enemy drones.

The whole package tops 12 billion dollars (about 47 trillion pesos). The 17 Gripen jets alone are worth roughly 4.3 billion — a deal with Sweden’s Saab that took years to sign.

Foreign suppliers will also have to invest at least a tenth of each contract’s value back into Colombian industry, so the country builds skills as well as buys gear.

Petro wants it all locked in before August 7, when his term ends. Committing the next government to years of spending, just two months before it takes over, has drawn criticism.

Petro pointed to a recent air-force plane crash: “We don’t want more young people dying because of the age of the equipment they use.”

What it means: If it actually happens, this is the biggest single defence buy in Latin American history. Choosing the Swedish Gripen ties Colombia tightly to Brazil, which flies the same jet — the two are building their air forces around Swedish and Brazilian gear rather than American. The scale is huge: 80 aircraft, 94 ships, 127 armoured vehicles and a home-made rifle line. The big open question is political: can an outgoing president really bind his successor to spending this large? The Gripen deal looks locked; the rest may be reopened by whoever wins the election.

The US Defense Department signed a 398.7-million-dollar deal with Raytheon that keeps Argentina’s 36 long-range air-to-air missiles on track to be built and delivered alongside its new F-16 jets. Work runs through December 2027 at Raytheon’s plant in Tucson, Arizona.

These are the most advanced export version of the missile, able to reach well over 160 kilometres — meaning a pilot can fire before the enemy plane is even in sight. Argentina has gone decades without that ability.

The wider weapons package, approved back in December 2024, is worth 941 million dollars and includes guided bombs and support gear.

Separately, Argentina put out a tender for heavy trucks to carry its radars, and its state arms-maker opened a search for a strategic partner to modernise its factories — early signs that the new financing plan the government set up in May is starting to turn into real orders.

What it means: This is the difference between owning fighter jets and having a real air force. Without long-range missiles, Argentina’s F-16s would be modern planes fighting with old limits. With them, they become the most dangerous air-to-air fighters in the southern part of the continent — shifting the balance against Chile’s and Brazil’s jets. Paired with the new funding plan and the factory partner search, Argentina is building the money and the industry to keep rearming beyond a single government.

Defence ministers and military chiefs from across the Americas gathered in Cusco this week (July 7–10) for the region’s top security-policy meeting. Peru’s navy chief proposed setting up a shared naval force to fight drug trafficking — a joint fleet under common command, rather than the US running strikes on its own.

The meeting comes while Peru is still reeling from its fighter-jet scandal: a 3.5-billion-dollar deal signed in April without the president’s knowledge, with 462 million dollars already paid, now under investigation by Congress. The June 7 run-off election will decide whether the next government keeps or cancels the deal.

Hosting the region’s ministers while caught in its own procurement scandal is an awkward look for Peru.

What it means: Peru’s idea matters: a shared naval force would be a joint, accountable alternative to the US-run strike campaign at sea, which has killed people with almost no public accounting. Whether it goes anywhere depends on whether Washington sees it as a helper or a rival. And the timing — a big scandal unresolved, a new president about to take over — casts Peru as both a builder of regional security and a warning of what happens when civilian control breaks down.

Chile’s defence ministry finally addressed months of rumours, saying the country faces no US restrictions on buying the F-35, America’s newest stealth fighter. The wording was careful — it neither confirmed a deal nor ruled one out — but it is the clearest sign yet that the Kast government sees the F-35 as a real option for the long term.

It follows that April moment when a Chilean tanker refuelled two US F-35s in mid-air, proving Chile already has the support planes such jets need. The F-35 also made a headline appearance at Chile’s FIDAE arms fair in April — widely read as a sales pitch.

Separately, a Royal Navy patrol ship, HMS Medway, made its first-ever visit to Punta Arenas on July 5, showing renewed British interest in Chile’s gateway to Antarctica. Chile’s air force also flew a third aid mission to Bolivia, carrying six tonnes of food.

What it means: This changes the conversation. The question was whether Chile could buy the F-35; the answer is now yes. What’s left — whether it will, when, and how many — comes down to money and political will. If Chile goes ahead, it would be the first country in Latin America to fly the F-35, opening a clear gap over every other air force in the region. And because it already has the tanker planes, it wouldn’t be starting from scratch. The British ship visit adds a London angle, with the Falklands-Antarctica corridor back in focus.

The response to Venezuela‘s June 24 earthquakes grew into a large aid operation, with military and rescue teams from several countries. Brazil sent two transport planes carrying relief supplies and specialists who help locate mobile-phone signals from people trapped under rubble — showing how the same aircraft used for military transport can double as a fast rescue tool.

At the same time, the US anti-drug campaign at sea kept going. The reported death toll is now above 190, with the carrier USS Nimitz still in the area.

American forces are now working with Venezuela’s new government on both fronts — fighting drugs and delivering aid — cooperation that was unthinkable under Maduro six months ago.

What it means: The earthquake relief opens a new chapter in the post-Maduro relationship: US and regional forces are now inside Venezuela not just to chase drugs but to save lives — the kind of on-the-ground contact that builds trust faster than any treaty. For Brazil, the mission is both genuine help and a live showcase of its transport plane. And the anti-drug strikes carrying on during the rescue show the region’s split-screen posture: one hand delivering aid, the other still hitting boats at sea.

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Over the Atacama Desert, six countries are flying warplanes together. In a Bogota military academy, an outgoing president announced 12 billion dollars of arms spending before handing over power.

In Tucson, Arizona, a factory line is building missiles that will make Argentina’s fighters the most dangerous in the southern continent. In Cusco, defence ministers are talking about a shared anti-drug fleet — while the host country’s own jet scandal stays unresolved.

And in Chile, the government confirmed what many suspected: it can buy the stealth F-35 if it chooses to.

Put together, Colombia’s plan, Argentina’s missiles, Chile’s F-35 opening and Peru’s contested deal add up to more than 16 billion dollars in defence spending — committed, possible or disputed. That is more than many countries in the region spend on their entire military in a decade.

The pattern is clear: the whole region is rearming at once, and each country is picking a different supplier, a different way to pay for it, and a different level of civilian control.

Salitre is the test of whether all those different systems can actually work together. Colombian turboprops flying next to Chilean F-16s, American jets, and Brazilian and Argentine planes is more than a drill — it is proof that a “buy from everyone” strategy can hold together in the air.

No one relies on a single supplier any more. Everyone is spreading their bets.

Read across the whole series, the story is consistent: Brazil builds warships, Colombia buys Gripens, Argentina arms its F-16s, Chile eyes the F-35, and Peru signed in secret. The boats still burn at sea.

The drones still swarm over Colombia. And above one of the driest places on earth, the aircraft that will shape the region’s balance of power for decades are learning to fight side by side.

The choices are being made. The one question that runs through every edition still hangs in the air: can the region’s institutions keep control of the forces they are building up?

Latin America Defense Monitor

Weekly Edition · Monday, July 7, 2026 · By The Rio Times Defense Desk

Published by The Rio Times · riotimesonline.com