PERU MOD PROMOTES RAPID REACTION FORCE TO ASSURE

C O N F I D E N T I A L LIMA 001063 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2017 TAGS: PTER PGOV MARR PE SUBJECT: PERU MOD PROMOTES RAPID REACTION FORCE TO ASSURE TERRITORIAL CONTROL/JOINT OPERATIONS CAPABILITY REF: A. LIMA 513 ¶B. LIMA 3259 (06) Classified By: Pol-Mil Officer David Brooks for Reasons 1.4 (b,d) -------------- Summary: -------------- ¶1. (C) Defense Minister Alan Wagner has been promoting the idea of a multi-service rapid reaction force since September ¶2006. Dubbed the "Effective Basic Nucleus" (Nucleo Basico Eficaz, NBE),the proposal calls for the creation of a self-sufficient force that can operate in the air, on land and at sea, and respond rapidly to a variety of threats. Related goals of the NBE are to assure the GOP's control of Peru's sovereign territory, a key priority in his effort to establish Peru's defense posture. The Minister is using the NBE concept to force greater jointness on the Peruvian Armed Forces, which do not have strong traditions of interservice cooperation. End summary. ¶2. (C) Peru MOD Alan Wagner has been promoting the idea of a multi-service rapid reaction force since September 2006. Dubbed the "Effective Basic Nucleus" (Nucleo Basico Eficaz, NBE),the proposal calls for the creation of a self-sufficient force that can operate in all three theaters (air, land and sea) and that can respond rapidly to a variety of threats, from terrorism to natural disasters. A related goal of the NBE is to assure the GOP's control of Peru's sovereign territory -- the centerpiece of the Minister's effort to restructure the country's defense posture (ref A). ¶3. (C) The Coordinator of the MOD's Advisory Team, Enrique Obando, laid out the genesis and the significance of this concept in a meeting with Poloff, DATT and MAAG Chief on 3/7. (Note: Obando is a defense intellectual of long-standing and is considered to be a close advisor and confidant of Minister Wagner. End Note.) Obando said that the NBE concept is borrowed from inter-war German military thinking, and promotes the idea of a joint unit that is self-sufficient and integrates a variety of military capabilities which enable it to operate at all levels (air, land, sea; anti-aircraft, anti-tank, maritime). Obando said the idea was suggested in mid-2006 to the MOD, who immediately adopted it as a baseline concept and has been using it publicly since September 2006. ¶4. (C) Obando emphasized that the goal of this multi-capable unit would be two-fold: to serve as a ready reaction force against internal and external threats and to assure the GOP's control of Peruvian territory. (Note: The notion parallels the idea of the Green Squad, a special Peruvian Police Unit created several years ago to serve as an independent reaction forc that can take up the slack where local police have failed due to inefficiency/corruption/etc. End Note.) Obando stated that Peru, because of its vast geographic diversity, long borders and lack of strong state presence in areas remote from Lima, faces a wide range of strategic challenges, from piracy and narcotrafficking to terrorism, and so requires a single force with multifaceted capabilities. ¶5. (C) While the NBE concept is attractive, it has raised a host of issues. Debates inside the military, both between the services and within the MOD, have centered on the kinds of equipment that should be purchased to create the multiple operational capabilities desired. For example, should the NBE have its own planes or have a better anti-aircraft capability? Should it include an air arm, what type of aircraft would best serve the NBE? Should it have tanks or anti-tank weapons? Obando noted that the NBE concept compels the different services to work together and to plan more complementary purchases, rather than each separate service developing its own, individualized modernization lists for weapons without any overarching or intergrating policy framework, as they have done historically. ¶6. (C) The MOD plans USD 653 million in purchases over the next five years, with most of the money to be spent in year two, and would like to use the NBE concept to determine what to buy. The services, in contrast, would prefer to go on with their own plans for weapons buying and adapt the items bought to the NBE. The Air Force is slated to get the largest share of the planned spending, about one-half the total, with the Army and the Navy getting about one-quarter each. This disproportionate amount for the Air Force is explained by the expense in modernizing and updating sophisticated aircraft like the MIG-29 as well as the purchase of helicopters and transport aircraft. ¶7. (C) Comment: The NBE concept serves the MOD in a number of ways. First, it enables him to talk about enhanced national defense and increased weapons and equipment purchases, things the military wants to hear, in terms compatible with the Minister's modernization agenda (Ref B). By invoking the NBE (rather than alleged threats from neighbors),the Minister can talk tough on defense but also build a flexible force that would be well suited to respond to transnational threats like narcotrafficking and terrorism. Joint, self-sufficient units would also be adaptable to peacekeeping operations, which are of interest to Wagner. Most important, the NBE is a lever that the Minister is using to force greater jointness on a military whose services do not have a strong history of cooperation, particularly in the area of procurement. STRUBLE