Porto dos Santos: As Tukarali is in the midst of economic and social recovery the government is already slowly looking towards other objectives as well in its efforts to strengthen the overall standing and capabilities of a wide range of Tukaralian sectors, expertises and services. One such thing is defense, a controversial topic within Tukarali. Many people associate defense with the old military junta and thus have no desire to divert resources to the military in fears of a relapse in which the dictatorship returns. But in this term many of the former leadership of the junta have been arrested and put on trial, with experts now believing the military is once more a stable and non threatening institution. In light of these developments the Ministry of Defense has been looking at opportunities to reform the military despite its limited resources for now. With this in mind they have proposed the "Comprehensive Adjustment of Defense Strategy" or CADS to the Assembly which is a series of mostly administrative, logistical and organizational reforms for the armed forces aimed at being low cost but also being a starting point for any future developments. In the CADS the ministry has first of all outlined the overall goals of defense strategy. This is described as being "the primary source of defense for Tukaralian sovereign territory. Its primary mission as a fighting force is to be a quick to respond, steadfast and strong force capable of responding ot a wide variety of threats domestic and abroad." In this mission the Army and Navy are classified as the most important branches as they together "form the bridge and the pavement needed to carry the weight of the nation." Besides outlining goals the reform also makes concrete changes. The Army is to lose its divisional structure in favour of a brigade structure, with forces to be organized into 15 brigades which totals around 60.000 men in total which in turn are divided administratively into two armies, the home army and the foreign army. 12 brigades will be housed within the home army while 3 will be housed within the foreign army structure. The brigades will all have their own seperate command structure with a coordinating role for Army Command of the home and foreign armies which draft overall battle plans and help brigade leadership on the ground. In the reform the immensely strict hierarchy that has dominated Tukaralian defense will also be adressed, with commanders from bottom to the top being allowed much more operational freedom to achieve their goals then they were used to before.
The navy in its turn is to be organized into squadrons, with a total of 8 squadrons all stationed at naval stations or military ports in the country. The squadrons enjoy major operational freedom, with the only overarching body/personel being the Commander of the Naval Forces and his office, which serves a coordinating role with the ministry of defense in drawing up battle plans and routs as well as serving as the highest naval commander which means he or she may order squadrons on missions. Squadrons themselves are commanded by a Naval Commander which directs all forces in the squadron and decides the approach of missions. The bill explicitely states that there is a desire for more squadrons and possibly a overarching fleet structure whenever naval forces have been significantly build up. The airforce will in this reform be organized into a "Operational Command" led by the Airforce Commander which directs operations, hands out missions and directs overall airforce activity. Furthermore it is organized into airbase units, with every airbase being assigned a set number of squadrons which will then be given a area of operations to patrol, train and oversee the skies. During actual combat operations, the Operational Command serves a commanding and coordinating role and can direct forces from every airbase to missions.
Besides operational reforms the names of the branches are also set to change, with the Army to be named the Tukarali Ground Force, the navy to be named the Tukarali Naval Forces and the airforce to retain its Tukaralian Airforce name. Additions to these branches have also been put in this bill, with the Naval Forces to gain the Tukaralian Marine Corps as a additional branch, serving as elite naval infantry, while the Airforce will be reintroduced to the Tukaralian Paratroop Force, serving as elite aerial infantry. The total costs of the reforms is estimated to be 2 billion, within line of expectations by the Ministry of Defense. The reforms do mean a significant downsize of the Armed Forces at least for now but according to Minister of Defense Eduardo Barreto this downsize "is in line with our overall goal of creating a more effective, better organized and quickly deployable force that can better adapt to the new defense environment."
