Exercise Escudo-Tínia 2026, which began on May 11 at Anápolis Air Base in the state of Goiás, represents one of the most ambitious integrated training efforts conducted by Brazil’s armed forces in recent years. For the first time, all three service branches are training together outside the historically favored south of the country, with the exercise running through May 29.
The Center-West was selected as the host region for the first time — a deliberate signal of the Armed Forces’ intent to expand operational reach beyond the Southern Cone. Anápolis, home of the 1st Air Defense Group and a key node in Brazil’s fighter interceptor network, provides the ideal infrastructure for an exercise of this scale and complexity.
Joint integration modules in the exercise cover ground-based air defense, infantry operations supporting air base protection, encrypted tactical communications, medical logistics and cyber defense. The overarching goal is to develop common procedures and raise the level of interoperability across service branches in high-intensity scenarios.
For the FAB, Escudo-Tínia 2026 holds particular significance: it is the first opportunity to test the F-39E Gripen in real joint operations — integrating with Army and Navy air traffic management systems and receiving tanker support from the KC-390 Millennium for both aerial refueling and tactical transport during the exercise.
