Initiative generates approximately 60,000 direct and indirect jobs
By Edwaldo Costa – São Paulo, SP
The Navy’s Submarine Development Program (PROSUB) celebrates its 15th anniversary on December 23, 2023, and continues to revolutionize technology and the Brazilian naval industry, consolidating its position as one of Brazil’s main Strategic Defense Programs.
Conceived through the partnership established between Brazil and France, the Program includes the construction of an industrial and support infrastructure for the operation and maintenance of submarines, the construction and operation of four “Riachuelo” Class Conventional Submarines, and the design and construction of the first Conventionally Armed Nuclear-Powered Submarine (SCPN), the main object of the entire Program.
With its continental dimensions of 8,500 kilometers of coastline, Brazil has the sea as a reference point for all its development. The immense wealth of waters, seabed and subsoil in this territory justifies its name: “Blue Amazon”. It is in this maritime area that Brazilians carry out fishing activities, our foreign trade and the exploitation of biological and mineral resources, where 95% of our exports and imports take place, as well as preserving 90% of the country’s oil and where a high percentage of the country’s digital communications travel via submarine cables.
In order to protect this heritage and guarantee Brazilian sovereignty at sea, the Brazilian State, through the Brazilian Navy, is investing in modernizing and improving the capabilities of the Naval Force, highlighting efforts to develop defence technologies.
PROSUB is part of the Brazilian Nuclear Program and has provided the Brazilian defense industry with cutting-edge nuclear technology. Activities of various kinds inherent to the Program also strengthen sectors of the national industry of strategic importance for the country’s technological and economic development, prioritizing the acquisition of components manufactured in Brazil, the provision of services by national companies and promoting incentives for our industrial park, notably the Defense Industrial Base.
From a social point of view, it also promotes a series of benefits, especially job creation, the training of technicians and engineers and, above all, professional qualification. It is estimated that the entire program will generate approximately 60,000 direct and indirect jobs, as well as exchanges with more than 18 universities, research institutions and 400 companies.
The programme also creates the possibility of nationalizing systems and equipment, as well as training companies as independent suppliers for future projects. The main technologies involved in the nuclear segment of the Program also have civilian use, providing benefits for other sectors such as nuclear, medicine, agriculture and food safety.
After 15 years, PROSUB has been overcoming challenges. The construction of the industrial infrastructure, the Submarine Base and the facilities of other Military Support Organizations – the Itaguaí Naval Complex (CNI) – are almost complete.
The construction of the four “Riachuelo” class submarines also demonstrates its successful development, including the absorption of knowledge by a significant number of Brazilian specialists. The Brazilian Navy has the first of these submarines, the “Riachuelo” (S40), already in operation, while the sea acceptance tests of the second submarine of the class, the “Humaitá” (S41), have already begun, and its transfer to the Naval Force’s Operational Sector will take place at the beginning of January 2024. The other submarines (“Tonelero” and “Angostura”) are scheduled to be ready by 2025.
The cutting of the first plate, which took place on October 4, started the process that will lead to the future construction of the Conventionally Armed Nuclear-Powered Submarine (SCPN) and, in view of the positive results, the SCPN project and construction are now moving forward.
Source: Agência Marinha de Notícias *** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***