Brazil intends to build and commission 6 nuclear submarines and 20 non-nuclear submarines (15 new, 5 refurbished) in the coming decades, making its submarine fleet the most powerful in South America. It is reported by the Malaysian news agency Bernama with reference to the Brazilian government.
2 billion euros have already been allocated for the creation of the first nuclear submarine within the framework of the plan for the construction of a submarine fleet for a period of thirty years. The boat will be built by DCNS in a French shipyard with Brazilian technology transfer, so the cost will be higher than the cost of the rest of the boats that will be built in Brazilian shipyards. The Brazilian Navy estimates that the second and subsequent boats will cost the government about $ 550 million.
According to a source in the Brazilian military-industrial complex, in December, Brazilian President Lula da Silva will inspect new buildings at the expanded Itagui shipyard in Rio de Janeiro, a future submarine construction center.
Non-nuclear boats will be built in two series, 15 and 5 boats each. Four boats of the first series will be a modification of the French submarine Scorpene with a larger displacement of 100 tons and 5 meters longer. The second series will include the repaired boats already in service with the Brazilian Navy: 4 Tupi-class submarines - modifications of German Project 209 boats - and a Tikuna-type boat, built by Brazil on the basis of a Project 209 boat.
It should be noted that within the framework of the earlier concluded contract, France will also supply Brazil with 4 non-nuclear submarines of the Scorpene type, the first of which will be transferred to Brazil in the second half of 2016, and the rest until 2021.
According to representatives of the Brazilian Navy, the program of building a submarine fleet implies the development by the state of the technological chain of uranium enrichment. The uranium enrichment plant in Ipero, having received $ 130 million in investment, has begun testing with uranium hexafluoride and after a while will be able to produce 40 tons of enriched uranium per year.
