The South American air forces performs several joint aerial combat training exercises. Among the more important are Cruzex ( ) which is hosted by the Brazilian Air Force, salitre ( ) hosted by the Chilean Air Force and ceibo ( ) hosted by the Argentine Air Force. The goal is to train together in order to respond to a crisis or integrate into United Nations peacekeeping operations as a unified team; the United States Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force have also participated in some of these exercises in recent years.
The exercises include combat search and rescue, aerial refueling and combined air operations center training opportunities focused on interoperability.
List of operations
All helicopters are normally provided by the host nation and all the participants include different types of support aircraft.