CODAI - Modernization
At the beginning of the 1980s Euromissile Roland 2 were acquired, along with double mounted mounted Breda/Bofors of 40/l70 mm, two-tube mounts IMI TCM-20 Mk 5 with guns AA Oerlikon 20mm, and Flycatcher Mk1 fire control systems, mobile short range Elissa 2100 radars, among other means.
Subsequently in 1984 various commissions of Officers and Non-commissioned Professionals of Career were sent to the outside to take courses in the different systems purchased. To Italy, for the Fly Catcher System and France for the Roland Missile System. At the beginning of the year 1985, the first 5 radars arrived and at the end of that same year began the armament of the squadrons of Artillery of the Air Defense. At the same time, the personnel training began, and in November 1985, the Command took part in its first operation, an operational enlistment exercise of the Air Group of Chase N 16.
In subsequent years, radars of various types were received including: TPS-43, TPS-63, and Westinghouse TPS-70. With these search and detection systems, five surveillance and control squadrons were created. And, aroudn the end of the 20th century, the the IAI Barak III missile system was acquired. Also, Thales "Reporter" surveillance radars and Mirador fire control systems were bought, while the Flycatcher systems were updated from the Mk 1 to the Mk 2 version.
From 2005, after the breakup of military relations with the United States, for ideological and geopolitical reasons, President Hugo Chávez accelerated the signing of technical-military cooperation agreements with countries that, until then, were foreign to the Venezuelan armed forces. These included, among others, Belarus, China and Russia.
The project for aerial platforms for early warning and Control (AEW&C) continued, with the purchase of four Embraer E-99 aircraft negotiated in Brazil, but the operation could not be realized due to the American veto.
The visit of the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to Moscow on 22 July 2008 grew into a major event as fears of another standoff between Russia and the United States mounted. Moscow had stopped short of selling Chavez the famous SA-16 Igla (“Needle”) portable anti-aircraft complexes. The possible sale of these weapons to Venezuela led to increased worries in neighboring Columbia, where Chavez was suspected of supplying weapons to the guerillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC). If the FARC members got Iglas, they could use these weapons against American-made helicopters.
“I am pretty sure Venezuela will never get Igla complexes from Russia,” commented Alexander Pikayev, a leading research fellow at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “This is a very effective weapon, and I think its sales are regulated by some kind of non-public agreement between Russia and the United States.”
In October 2010, Russia agreed to provide Venezuela export credit in the amount of $ 4 billion for the purchase of arms and military equipment of Russian origin. What exactly Venezuela was planning to buy weapons with the funds was unspecified. Earlier it was reported that Russia gave Venezuela 1800 MANPADS "Igla-S".
The SA-24 Grinch / 9K338 9M342 IGLA-S man-portable air defence missile system was publicly presented to the Fuerza Armada de Venezuela. Avenida los Proceres, Caracas 19 April 2009. The Venezuelan military conducted massive air defense and artillery drills involving visiting Russian troops and hardware in march 2015. The 10-day war games had been ordered by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who spoke of pressure coming from the United States.
According to a Venezuelan military presentation seen by Reuters and reported 25 May 2017, the South American country had 5,000 SA-24 Man-Portable Air-Defense System (MANPADS) missiles, also known as the Igla-S, which are shoulder-mounted and can be operated by one person. It was the first credible information on the total size of the arms stockpile. Public weapons registries confirmed the bulk of the numbers seen on the Venezuelan military document.
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