I would like to welcome you all. I am the General of Brigade NEUVALD, Commander of the 6th Infantry Brigade. On behalf of the 5,000 members of the Brigade, men and women, I would like to express our great satisfaction of being able to participate in this 7th edition of such a significant course for us, to the extent that we are able to explore important aspects of military activity in coordination and together with the academy, with the universities, on a very important theme, which is the simulation of armored combat.
We were planning to do this activity in the first semester, but due to the work of our troops and that includes the work of the 6th Infantry Brigade, due to the catastrophe that occurred in the months of April, May and June, where we had, in all, more than 90 days in the operations of Vinão Guerra, in function of this scenario, we had to postpone the beginning of this course. But I am absolutely sure that it will be very profitable and our participation here, as I said, is to talk a little about the importance of the simulation of combat in the certification of a fortitude of the value of the Brigade. The 6th Infantry Brigade is today the fortitude of the Brazilian Army, when it comes to the employment of armored troops.
We are, even this year, in our certification cycle, in such a way that, from November of this year, we are already in the system integrated to the fortitude themes, being in the fortitude quality for the years of 2025 and 2026. So, nothing more opportune and very gratifying, I repeat here, this opportunity that we also have to show a little of what is done in the Brigade, plus a focus on this important tool that we have, which is the combat simulation. Well, then, as we said, our theme is the importance of the combat simulation in the certification of a fortitude, in this case, the 6th Infantry Brigade, which today is the fortitude of the Army, when it comes to the employment of armored forces.
Well, the summary is developed in three parts. In the introduction, let's talk a little about the concepts related to the operational fortitude system of the Brazilian Army, an activity conducted and captained by the command of land operations, in the development of the role of the simulation in this training, with its various perspectives and its various advantages, the fortitude cycle in which the 6th Infantry Brigade is inserted and running, and the several aspects that we observed in the years of 2022 and 2023, and a conclusion in which we will focus on the advantages, the main advantages of this simulation system, in which it refers to the maintenance of our operational levels for the precipitous mission of the land force and our constitutional mission, which is the defense of the father, that is, the conventional combat. So, some concepts are related to the operational fortitude system.
So, in general, the fortitude system, it conceives the fortitude forces as the key elements so that we can have, together with the land force, several capacities permanently in conditions of being employed. So, the key aspects here that we can observe are the use of computer programs and the use of virtual reality devices, in order to systematize the preparation of the forces, creating then the operational fortitude system. So, the fortprong are composed of ten brigade commands, each with its specific vocation.
Our 6th Brigade, because it is an armored brigade, then integrates the system as one of these commands, with the specific capacity of the fortitude force. They will remain in permanent conditions, when they are operated, to get together, to lend themselves and to move to an area of operation defined by a certain deadline, in space, by the intermedia of the employment system of the command of land operations. So, the main idea here is to be with forces permanently in conditions of being employed according to the scenarios that are being analyzed and according to the demands that we receive from the command of land operations.
So, here we have a general idea of how the system is composed. Don't see that we have these capacities, they are spread throughout the national territory. We have there, on the border zone, Mato Grosso do Sul, we have in Paraná, we have in São Paulo, in the northeast also a force, Rio de Janeiro also, and here in the southern region, in the Southern Military Command, here in the triangle below, Sede Santa Maria, Sexta Brigada, integrating then the fortitude forces of the CISPROM of the Brazilian Army.
The role of the simulation in training, then advancing in the first topic of our development, then the simulation in this training, then we have the first concept, which is the constructive simulation, where people, equipment and the effects are simulated. We used to call it a war game, but it is an opportunity that we have to do this training, at a higher level of units and also subunits, integrating systems by means of people, equipment, and the effects are simulated. So, we call it the simulated military problems that can be created from the moment we receive a tactical theme, we make the planning and from then on we generate the interactions within a scenario of conflict simulation, and from then on we get the results, and it can also create simulated military problems to see the capacity of the larger states and the various fractions to react to these problems that are simulated.
This gives us a very good capacity to test our planning capacity, and especially to take into account the actions that may occur at the moment we are in combat. Virtual simulation where real people use equipment and simulated effects. So, we see cabins with an armored operator, then we can observe probably an M113, in which it is subjected to the effects that that particular equipment, military service equipment, can suffer.
So, this also gives us a more individual capacity of the key elements of the armed forces, which are not only the commanders of the small fractions, but mainly the commander of the car and the operator of a personal transport armored vehicle or a combat car, there he will have the opportunity to simulate and having an idea of how he could react to a hypothetical situation. And the live simulation, which in reality after we have done the virtual simulation and the construction simulation, is basically the unfolding in the field of real people and equipment with simulated effects. So, usually we do a virtual training, then we do a construction simulation with this planning work and we conclude our cycle with the live simulation where we go to the field and by means of these simulated effects we can have a notion in better conditions of our tactics and procedures.
So, the simulation in the preparation of an armored brigade, we have, we are very well equipped here in our armored brigade with several modalities of simulators for the military work material of high intensity that we have, our combat car, our artillery system. Here we can see then the simulators of a combat armored vehicle, combat car, Leopard 1A5 that I have in my two regiments of combat car. In the first RCC, which is fixed here in Santa Maria, later we will see the disposition of the troops of the 6th Brigade.
And in the 4th Regiment of Combat Car, located in Rosario do Sul, both have in their sections of armored instruction, in their Sibs, these equipment that give us an extra capacity to train at any time. We do the training, certifications and recycling of the various garrisons. In the same way, we have in the self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery battery, low altitude artillery, here organic from the 6th Brigade, also the simulators of the GEPA vehicle, which is a combat armored vehicle, anti-aircraft, which is being acquired from Germany, more or less eight years ago, it came to us here, and today it is making a big difference in the conflicts that we are observing in Ukraine, in Russia, particularly in the job against drones, for the capacities that it has, capacity for identification of targets and shooting with great intensity, at low altitude.
So, for this, we also have the simulators inside the brigade, to alternate the garrisons of the anti-aircraft armored vehicles, GEPA. And we also have the fire support simulators, both the 155 garrison, which are organic from our self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery group, the Malé regiment, are last generation garrisons, modernized, with a range of 30 km and a great capacity to enter and leave the position at high speed. This is making a big difference today in the combats that we are experiencing, particularly in the Middle East and in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Capacity to shoot with range, with precision, but also to enter and leave the position quickly. So these simulators give us this capacity to train in our garrisons. And in the same way, the infantry units, the maneuvering units, I have two armored infantry battalions and two combat car regiments, they have the heavy mortars, 120 mm, where we also have these simulators and simulators for training in the various garrisons.
This is what we get, then we will see a very large economy. We train well, the staff is well trained, well trained, not only in the shooting technique, but in the systematic identification and execution of the shot, and also giving us a very large economy. It comes to the amount of millions of reais that we managed to save and at the same time maintain a very large training in our garrisons.
Sixth Armored Infantry Brigade and the Ciclo de Prontidão. So we will see here, first a little bit about the Sixth Brigade, a brigade, the most traditional armored infantry brigade of the Brazilian Army. It is a complete brigade, it has all the capacities that a brigade, a great unit needs to have, there are 12 military organizations.
So up there on the slide to the left we can see the 29th Armored Infantry Battalion, the 1st Combat Car Regiment, a self-propelled campaign group, a logistics battalion, a mechanized cavalry squad with reconnaissance and security missions, an anti-aircraft artillery, very important, a battery, a command company that supports the unfolding of the brigade command post, an armored communications company and an army police platoon. Of the 12 subordinate military organizations, directly subordinate to the Sixth Brigade, nine are concentrated, stationed in the city of Santa Maria. The Armored Combat Engineering Battalion, which is an Armored Combat Engineering Battalion, gives us a very large mobility in the region of Alegrete, the 4th Combat Car Regiment, which is my second cavalry unit in Rosário do Sul, and the 7th Armored Infantry Battalion in Santa Cruz do Sul, that is, I have four maneuvering units, two armored infantry battalions, two combat car regiments.
And the fire support and all other systems, complete, providing the Sixth Brigade is really able to fulfill its mission and continue the defense of the country at any time. And a very large concentration of Santa Maria, it makes it very easy for me to mobilize the means. Of the 12 subordinate military organizations, I have Santa Maria, and in a radius of two hours, at most two and a half hours, I can finish with the other means, the units of Alegrete, Rosário and Santa Cruz do Sul, to Santa Maria, forming the forces, tasks, and from there, leaving to fulfill the missions.
So, as I said, a structure, this slide presents us, a de-manual structure of armored brigade, and I see that we have all the capacities that a armored brigade needs to have. The Sixth Brigade is a complete armored brigade. An idea of the complexity of the means, we have then the Obuseiro 155, M109, A5 plus BR, with a very high shooting and precision capacity, and a shooting speed also, and entry into position.
At the center we see the vehicle Guepa, the version 1A5 BR, gives us a great shooting capacity in motion, a great precision, and also the capacity to conduct night operations. This is a differential in what refers to the employment of armored forces in our strategic environment, South America. We have there, more to the right, in the center to the right, a traditional vehicle for the transport of troops, consecrated worldwide, all armies in the world continue to use the M113, which is the armored personnel carrier, that mobilizes my armored infantry battalions, a 0.
50 machine gun, as I said, a very rustic vehicle, easy and low maintenance cost, with a very favorable weight-power ratio, very favorable, it has a great power and a very small relative weight, so it gives a very large mobility, it was a vehicle that has been repotentiated for more or less 8 years, with more than 80 HP of power in its force set, and this makes the armored infantry troops be able to accompany the combat vehicles in the composition and operation of the task forces. This is a differential that we have here in the 6th Brigade. In the line below, we see from left to right the Guarani vehicle, which is organic from the 6th Cavalry Squadron, mechanized, used in a vehicle with technology development developed here in the country, a consortium, but we have this capacity to mobilize my unit of recognition and security, which is the 6th CEMEC Squadron.
In the last line, in the central part, we see the GEPA vehicle, and on the right we have the Cascavel vehicle, which is the car that gives the firepower to the squadrons. We are now in the process of acquiring the Centauro vehicle, the Caça-Tanque vehicle, which in our modernization project of armored forces, will replace the Cascavel vehicle, with a larger range, with a much larger optronica and electronics, and a 4 km engagement capacity. The Cascavel shoots at 2 km, we will be with the Centauro shooting at 4 km with a very high precision.
Obviously, it will be a quantum leap in the quality of employment of our brigade. Preparation cycle, basically three phases, a first phase preparation, three months, we now start in July, August and September of this year the preparation phase, so we are practically finishing, now in September the preparation part, a month of certification throughout the month of October, and once certified, from mid-November, we will enter then, in the period of readiness, in which the brigade will be 24 months in condition to be employed regularly. So, it's 28 months in total, as we can see, participating in the South Descent Center, helping us in the preparation and certification part, and also highlight the employment of the simulation system, the fact of this cycle being sequential and uninterrupted, this is very important, because we make a kind of formative itinerary, we prepare, in the sequence we certify, and already enter in readiness for two months, for 24 months.
Moving forward a little more here, we can have an idea in this picture, there are several activities, in phase 1, which is the preparation phase, see there the employment of simulators, the simulators, the fire support simulator in the South, with heavy mortar and GAC, this happened in June and July, level of capacity from July to September, with some theoretical instructions, employment of SAP, the advanced observers of artillery, military intelligence, level of specific knowledge. We carry out the Miruano exercise, pilot level training in August and early September, the Coraça exercise, see that the training is going up the ladder, then we leave the Miruano exercise, which is pilot level, and we enter the subunit level in September, and then in September there is this SAICAM, which has as a purpose to train the forces, tasks, subunit, where we put all the elements, then infantry with cavalry and more the supports, in the virtual simulator in the South Training Center, this in September. In the certification phase, we have the exercise provided in October, with the work of a larger state, with the use of constructive simulation, and ending the certification, the simulation alive, with steel puns, end of October and in the first week of November, the exercise of a force, task, unit, which is constituted, the FOPROM, and more the support modules.
So, from the second certification phase with the steel puns operation, the brigade enters its readiness phase, where the standards will be maintained, I already have here a series of activities that I will develop in this readiness cycle, with a systematic action over time, through the various capacities of the FOPROM, so that we can keep the standards and remain permanently in condition to be employed during those 24 months of the readiness period. The main aspects observed in 2022 and 2023, what you refer there is the virtual simulation, which is the one where we use real people, and equipment and simulated effects. So, expressive gain of troop training, by enabling the visualization of the effects of the FOPROM.
The stress of the information flow generated by the virtual simulation, contributed positively to the training, particularly of the forces, tasks, subunit. Because it is the moment, when we do the training with the subunit, we join, constitute the forces, tasks, and then we will have the cavalry element, with infantry, with fire support, is an opportunity of this virtual simulation, to make interaction at the subunit level of the various capacities that the integrate. So, this is very important, the stress of the information flow, it is important because it makes the commander, he has the ability to filter the information and work by priorities, deciding with the right.
So, this is very important. Success in fulfilling the missions, having seen the income achieved in the realization of the tactical techniques and procedures, of the TTPs, in the tactical theme of the simulator, which is also important. We are developing and intensifying a lot the command action in the small fractions, where the tactical techniques and procedures, they are fundamental for the success of the operational missions.
Another relevant aspect, the opportunity to train the identification of targets and review the correct use of covers and jackets, in addition to the types of deployment of armored vehicles, a noble means. So, you have to know how to progress and use the terrain well, how to make the approaches and fulfill the mission without being overwhelmed, because we know that the armored troops are kind of noble, they are kind of noble and obviously, by the enemy, they will always be a compensating target, more than ever, tactical techniques and procedures. Mobility and shock action and firepower are very important for the armored troops to fulfill their mission, but especially in combat, you have to be very alert, very careful, and the virtual simulation allows us to have a sense of it.
And the need to expand the fire and shooting orders of the mortars during the realization of the attack and the use of the exit. These were considerations that we raised in the last training. So, the maneuver progresses, but the coordination of the fire order, both of shooting and of the mortar, is fundamental for the terrain to be softened, which is what we say, the enemy suffers casualties, loses, has a loss, a significant loss of its relative power in combat, and with that we can advance with the elements of maneuver to be able to fulfill the mission.
So, all this, the virtual simulation provided us in the years of 1922 and 1923 to measure and have a clearer notion of how we do it. The fire support simulator of the GAC were 32 missions and shots carried out, see the total of simulated shots carried out by the 3rd GACP, 933. This gives us an economy of ammunition, if we were to make these 933 real shots, we will spend about R$ 11.
200. 000, considering the unit value of a high explosive ammunition, R$ 155 to R$ 9. 200.
See the gain in terms of resources that we can do, keeping a good level of equipment only in the use of the fire support simulator. Same thing, heavy mortar pilot, the same, systematic, only with a slightly smaller caliber, but also gave us an economy of 41 missions of shots carried out, repetition of procedures with economy of resources, and the total of simulated shots by heavy mortar pilots, R$ 1240. 000.
So, it is a very satisfactory index in terms of shooting implementation, because these procedures are being re-done, re-done, re-done, it's 1242 times that this whole system of shooting implementation has been carried out, so it gives us a very large expertise in the processes that involve the mortar shot, the firing shot. Combining all this, you see that we have an economy of ammunition in the exercise of almost R$ 15 million, only in the mortar, calculating that the shot at 120 mm is in the order of R$ 12,000. So, R$ 15 million plus the R$ 11 million of artillery, in one year we managed to save R$ 26 million, carrying out more than 2,000 shooting processes, more than 2,200 shooting missions, with the mortar pilot and the campaign artillery group.
In the construction simulation, as I had already said at the beginning, we had the opportunity to simulate the use of anti-aircraft artillery by means of simulators, against drones, which are SARPs, but we call them drones, and which is one of the great vedettes of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. We live today, in reality, a resumption of the strategic competition between the states, and the geopolitical interests are being shown, and we end up seeing that the military field, it begins to resume its protagonism in the contribution to the states to achieve its interests. The conflict between Ukraine and Russia has been going on for more than two years, the artillery has returned to fire, the air force has returned to make sorties, the armored troops have begun to be employed again, which we call the spine of an army, which are their armored forces.
So, the construction simulation in the anti-aircraft context helps us to verify our capabilities of the VBC GEPA in the war against drones. It also made possible the visualization of anti-aircraft defense activities against simulated aerial vectors, and revealed an opportunity for improvement, which refers to logistics, human resources and standardization of intelligence documents. We had the opportunity, I did the simulation with the 6th anti-aircraft battery, we went through the great exercise of the Army's anti-aircraft artillery, in the field of instruction of FOMOSA, and I could immediately see the high standard of performance of the brigade's anti-aircraft battery.
It was really the troop that stood out in this exercise. For you to have an idea, in this exercise are placed simulated targets, they fly, a kind of air models that fly, and it is a great difficulty to shoot because the rear radar section of the vehicle is covered by a vehicle, as the metallic physical mass of this air model used is very small, it is not enough, it does not have enough mass to sensor the radar. So, this shot is made manually.
Thanks to the simulator that we have in the 6th battery, a shot, or the amount of shots that we usually use to knock down a target like this, which is between 900 and 1000 shots, we managed to knock down the target with only 40 shots. 40 shots, so a significant gain, both in terms of efficiency and saving resources. What we were doing with 1000, we are managing to do with 40, 50 shots.
Live simulation, so we have the tactical engagement simulation devices, which are very important, used by the troop during live simulation, where they are sensorized and a wrong movement, or a wrong shot, or a wrong maneuver, it can be identified by the opponent's force, in this friction that is simulated, one shooting against the other, and we managed to measure the casualties, and the capacity of a certain troop to maintain its percentage of operational capacity to be able to continue the mission. So, the simulation devices revealed only one death caused by fratricide, thanks to the work that we did in virtual simulation and in construction. Lowering of the shots fired by the F/T subunit of the artillery, minus 5% during the two days of combat, and the work of the conduct observers, the OCCAS, revealed difficulty in integration between infantry and cavalry troops with engineering, in the works of opening the breach, with a high number of casualties.
It really is an operation of opening the breach, it is a very critical operation, in which it needs to have a synchrony, a very big synchrony, between the elements of support and combat, which are engineering, which go ahead together with infantry and cavalry, because at some point infantry and cavalry, they guarantee the advance of engineering, the engineering makes the opening of the breach, and then the engineering enables the advance of infantry and cavalry. So, it is a exchange of intensity and relevance in this movement that needs to be very well synchronized. So, this also served for us to put a holophote on top of this type of operation, and we developed our TTPs within the forces, tasks, subunits.
So, as a conclusion, ending our intervention here, the advantage of the simulation employment. So, the main thing here is the reduction of costs. We can observe there how much we save as we use the virtual simulation, both in terms of the part of the ammunition economy, as well as the reduction in the wear of the military employment material.
The possibility of repetition, the possibility of gathering in the training center our troops, or in our simulators, in the armored instruction sessions, in an immersive way. The fractions enter and really participate 1, 2, 3, up to a week, and this gives us a jump in quality because the military employee only sees that in that period. So, the immersion, it potentializes the performance of our team.
Efficiency, effectiveness, fidelity, the exercises are very real, so this forces the individual fighter to really do what has to be done with a lot of realism, because he knows that if he doesn't do it, he can travel and leave combat. Time factor too, because we keep this capacity in our hands. Preservation of the environment, because we reduce our realization of real shots, and also the reduction of risks as we train with opportunity our forces in a virtual way, so that later we can go to the ground.
So, in this way, I reinforce here the great importance of this system, particularly for the forces of the military, which are expensive forces. They are the backbone of a ground force, but they are expensive. And that's why they have to be preserved and trained with maximum efficiency, always looking for great effectiveness with a reduction in costs, because they are expensive.
And we did this through the simulation systems and the system that the Army created, the Intermediate Command of Earth Operations, in order to have their forces ready, really in condition to be employed in our constitutional mission. So, with this, I once again thank the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, for the opportunity to share some ideas, wish everyone a great progress in their activities, and that the objectives of this seventh edition are fully achieved. A big hug to everyone, greetings in the battles, steel in defense of the country.
