Southern Fenix rises in the Atacama Desert as militaries train together

More than 600 military personnel from the US, Chilean and Argentinian armies have united to take part in a multinational exercise designed to help them master interoperability in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

Exercise Southern Fenix 24 ensured the troops were trained in interoperability and multi-domain experience between 27 August and 5 September 2024. It also marked the first time a US Army-led exercise deployed the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) platform within the US Southern Command operations area. That deployment gave the Chilean Army an understanding of new concepts in collaborative working.

Southern Fenix 24 involved the deployment of roughly 200 US Army personnel, including soldiers from US Army South, 11th Airborne Division, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, 1st Security Forces Assistance Brigade, Joint Task Force Bravo, Joint Communications Support Element and the National Guards of Texas, Utah and New York. More than 300 Chilean Army personnel assigned to the 6th Division also took part alongside around 100 from the Argentinian military.

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The goal of the exercise was to increase hemispheric collaboration in the conditions prevalent in the Atacama. Including the expeditionary deployment of an M142 HIMARS section allowed for training events that combined forceable entry, airfield seizure, HIMARS rapid integration, reception, staging, onward movement and integration, and a combined field training exercise culminating in two live-fire exercises.

The activities conducted during Southern Fenix 24 were aligned with the SOUTHCOM Campaign Plan and the US National Defense Strategy, and were judged to contribute to the broader objective of strengthening security and defence partnerships throughout the region.

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