In 2021, South American militaries remained focused on domestic security threats, with power projection ambitions often limited by significant equipment-availability challenges and funding shortfalls. As highlighted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ “Armed Conflict Survey 2021,” organized crime continues to greatly fuel violence and instability in the region, conditioning defense spending on domestic security.
Brazil is the only country in the area with substantial ongoing procurement and modernization efforts, and that is expanding international defense industrial cooperation despite its own budgetary constraints.
IISS analysts: Fiscal constraints drive the state of South America’s defense (defensenews.com)
