Brazilian Marine Corps

The Brazilian Marine Corps (Brazilian Portuguese: Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais, CFN; lit. 'Corps of Naval Fusiliers' or 'Corps of Naval Riflemen') is the Brazilian Navy's naval infantry component. Its operational components are the Fleet Marine Force (Força de Fuzileiros da Esquadra, FFE), under the Naval Operations Command, in Rio de Janeiro, and regional battalions under the Naval Districts in the coast and the Amazon and Platine basins. Its seagoing component is the FFE, with a core of three infantry battalions and its own artillery, amphibious and land armor, special operations forces and other support elements.

Tracing their origins to the Portuguese Navy's Royal Brigade of the Navy, Brazilian marines served across the 19th century aboard and landed from the Imperial Navy's ships. By the next century, they were relegated to guard duty and largely influenced by the Brazilian Army. In political struggles, they were usually loyalists. Only after 1950 did the CFN acquire true amphibious warfare capabilities, under long-lasting inspiration from the United States Marine Corps.

The CFN relies on the fleet and Naval Aviation for mobility. Its amphibious capability varies historically according to the fleet's available ships and attention given to other priorities, such as counterinsurgency during the military dictatorship and law and order in the current political order. Participation in United Nations peacekeeping is frequent and the 2008 Brazilian National Defense Strategy established that the Marine Corps must be a high-readiness expeditionary force for power projection by the navy. In Brazil's strategic surroundings, this means a capability for urban operations, from humanitarian aid to war, in crisis-ridden countries.

As a cadre of personnel, the Marine Corps is one of the navy's three main components, alongside the Fleet and Logistics Corps, and its ranks are named almost the same as the others. As officers, marines may rise to the highest peacetime rank. Marines are a professional, all-volunteer cadre which undergoes a cycle of military exercises with amphibious assaults (Operation Dragão) and live fire on land (Operation Formosa). They have a distinctive identity tied to both the sea and land and comparable to the army's infantry.