Brazil to launch second submarine; tests begin Dec. 11
Brazil is set to launch a submarine expected to boost control efforts over the coastal strip known as Blue Amazon. The ceremony marking the beginning of testing activities for submarine Humaitá is slated to be held on December 11.
Humaitá comes as a result of technological cooperation with France, which has launched submarine Riachuelo, now in its final testing stage, to be delivered to the Navy for operations in 2021, when it should be armed and ready to conduct its missions.
Four submarines of the conventional type, battery-powered, charged with a diesel engine, are being planned altogether.
Conventional submarines have an operational capacity of up to 80 days at sea, and can remain submerged for up to five days without surfacing, which ensures a wide scope of movement, including going from Rio de Janeiro to Rio Grande do Sul—some 1.4 thousand km apart—with no stops. Nuclear submarines may stay submerged for much longer, as it does not need to rise to the surface to feed its propulsion system, since it does not rely on air to function.
Counter-Admiral André Martins, manager of Industrial Infrastructure of the Submarine Development Program (Prosub), noted that Brazil must protect the Blue Amazon region, where most national maritime trade takes place, and where the country’s main oil reserves.
Humaitá comes as a result of technological cooperation with France - Tomaz Silva/Agência Brasil
Only ten countries across the world, he said, including Brazil, manufacture conventional submarines. And only five countries produce nuclear submarines today—a team Brazil is expected to join in a few more years: “Our submarines contribute to national defense, allowing Brazil to preserve its riches and its territorial sea.”
As it stands today, Brazil has four submarines of the Tupi class (Tupi, Tamoio, Timbira, Tapajó), one of the Tikuna series, and Riachuelo—adding up to six vessels of this kind. Humaitá will be the seventh, but will be operational in its initial testing phase only.
