Brazil's Defense Ministry has authorized the temporary entry of 115 foreign troops for Exercise Formosa 2026, an annual training event held with the Brazilian Armed Forces at the Formosa Training Ground in the state of Goiás, in central Brazil. The order, signed by Defense Minister José Múcio Monteiro Filho, was published in the Diário Oficial da União, Brazil's federal official gazette, on Wednesday (26), according to reports by G1 and Poder360.

The authorized contingent includes 55 service members from the United States, 40 from France and 20 from Paraguay. Weapons, ammunition, optronic equipment and communications material needed for the drills will also be allowed into the country. The exercise will run from September 3 to 25 in areas of Goiás and the Federal District, which contains the capital, Brasília.

For Brazil, the drill brings together three distinct military partners on a single training ground. The United States has maintained defense cooperation agreements with the country for decades, while France, a fellow NATO member alongside Washington, shares a border with Brazil through French Guiana and is a longstanding supplier of equipment to the Brazilian Armed Forces. Paraguay, in turn, is Brazil's partner in Mercosur, the South American trade bloc, and shares a long land border with Brazilian territory. Combined exercises of this kind are routine between these countries and, under Brazilian law, require formal government authorization for foreign troops and military material to enter national territory.

A drill with almost four decades of history

Exercise Formosa has been run by the Brazilian Navy since 1988 and recreates combat situations in different scenarios to keep the marine corps ready for immediate action. The Formosa Training Ground belongs to the Army and is loaned to the Navy each year. Covering roughly 114,000 hectares, it is the only site in Brazil equipped for launches from the Astros multiple rocket artillery system, according to the Army, which has trained there since the 1960s.

Since 2021, the Army and the Brazilian Air Force have also taken part in the exercise. That same year the drill took on a political dimension: for the first time, a convoy of armored vehicles from the marine fleet force crossed Brasília on the same day Congress was voting on a constitutional amendment, and an invitation was delivered personally to then president Jair Bolsonaro. The opposition at the time read the movement as an attempt to pressure the legislature, which the Navy denied, as Poder360 reported.

The Defense Ministry's order was forwarded to the Foreign Ministry, to the Navy, Army and Air Force commands and to the three countries' embassies in Brasília. The foreign troops' presence is temporary and limited to the duration and purposes of the exercise.