ITAGUAI, Brazil — The Brazilian Navy launched its first Brazilian-built Scorpène submarine, Riachuelo, on Dec. 14, the Naval Group said in a release. The ceremony took place at the Itaguaí Navy base.
In 2009, Naval Group was entrusted by the Brazilian Navy with designing and transferring the technology for four conventional Scorpène submarines, and for the design and manufacturing assistance for the non-nuclear part of Brazil’s first nuclear-powered submarine. The contract also included the support for the construction of a naval base and a shipyard in Brazil.
The Prosub program is a key extension of the strategic defense cooperation agreement signed in December 2008 in Rio de Janeiro.
The launching of the Scorpène Riachuelo demonstrates the success of the program, with both the successful completion of the first submarine and of the shipyard’s infrastructure. The latter is being built by a Brazilian company, Construtora Norberto Odebrecht (CNO), based on Naval Group specifications and on the French group’s experience in the design, production engineering and in-service support of submarines.
The Riachuelo will start sea trials in 2019 for delivery in 2020. Delivery of submarines two, three and four will then follow every 12 to 18 months.
Since 2012, Naval Group has done considerable work to identify, select, negotiate, qualify Brazilian service providers in order to feed the supplier database for equipment or products supplied by Naval Group to the Brazilian Navy, and present and qualify local suppliers for the future needs of the Brazilian Navy.
This work enables the Brazilian Navy to rely more and more on a sovereign national industrial base.
It also enables the Brazilian industrial ecosystem to access new markets by promoting their “Naval Group” and “Brazilian Navy” accreditation and to avail of the know-how and experience of the French group in the fields of project management.
Finally, ICN (Itaguaí Construções Navais) will be able to call on this panel of suppliers for its own development as part of the future maintenance and support services of the submarines.
Today, 14 Scorpène submarines are in operational service or being built, for the Chilean Navy (two units), the Malaysian Navy (two units), the Indian Navy (six units) and the Brazilian Navy (four units).
