Argentina’s Defense Minister Jorge Taiana recently visited the Itaguaí shipyard in Brazil, which specializes in the construction of submarines.
Taiana toured the Itaguaí Construcciones Navales (ICN) shipyard, a government- owned defense company that specializes in naval nuclear technology to build submarines in Itaguaí, Rio de Janeiro.
Together with the head of the Argentine Navy, Admiral Julio Guardia, and authorities from the Argentine shipyard company TANDANOR, he learned about the construction process of the Scorpene submarine, one of the models that Argentina is considering rebuilding its submarine capacity.
Argentina has only two diesel-electric submarines (SSK) in its inventory. The Salta-class was procured from Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) in 1972, and the Santa Cruz-class from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems in 1984, according to GlobalData.
At the end of the tour, Taiana said: “Currently, our country lacks the strategic capacity to have real control and surveillance over our waters under national jurisdiction, our continental platform, and our natural resources. For this reason, we continue to look for the best supply of submarines, and the visit to the Itaguaí shipyard was very enlightening.”
In July 2022, Taiana will lead a tour of France and Germany, visiting Naval Group and ThyssenKrupp shipyards to evaluate and learn about production proprocesses, financing conditions, and technology transfer with Argentine participation.
GlobalData Aerospace, Defense & Security analyst James Marques offered his perspective: “Argentina’s current two German submarines are currently inactive, so they don’t really have a force. They’re also from the ’80s, so the Scorpene would be a big leap in capability.
“They can carry a whole range of missiles, mines and torpedoes. But they would only be good for littoral-type missions. If they went ahead with the purchase, Brazil would benefit greatly, as would France, because it would be the variant that Brazil produces under license.”
All eyes on South American submarine success
Itaguaí was created in 2009 to consolidate the naval modernization of the Brazilian armed forces following the cooperation agreements signed by Nicolas Sarkozy and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. These agreements covered the construction of four submarines and the transfer of French diesel-electric submarine technology.
Since 2010, the shipyard’s personnel have been receiving theoretical and technical training in France, and the construction of the first of four Brazilian Scorpene-class submarines began that same year. The Brazilian Navy launched its first Scorpene-class attack submarine in late 2018, and the second two years later.
In 2012, the parts for the construction of the vessels were transferred from France and integrated with those built by ICN. In 2013, the design and manufacture of the parts began to be carried out entirely in Brazil, giving way to the construction of the second submarine.
In 2020, the ICN and the Brazilian Navy inaugurated the submarine base on the island of Madeira, with the aim of continuing the construction of Scorpenes submarines, as well as the construction of the nuclear submarine fleet, starting with the Álvaro Alberto submarine, which will be the first nuclear-powered attack submarine in Brazil by 2029.
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