PROSUB – SUBMARINE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
( EZUTE ) Submarine Development Program.
Since it began to specify the equipment for the renewal of the fleet of submarines, the Brazilian Navy took the decision not to depend on external suppliers to ensure access to a technology that it considers critical: the combat system that operates and controls the weapons of four conventional submarines and one of nuclear propulsion, which Brazil acquired from France.
An agreement between the governments of the two countries ensured the complete transfer of technology to accomplish this task, assuming the design and development of the information systems required.
Fundação ( EZUTE) was responsible for the process of nationalization of the combat system. In the first phase, nine engineers of the Foundation were relocated to France for the work of absorption and mastery of the onboard software for the submarines. In response, this group began to function as part of the multidisciplinary team that develops and updates the system, in coordination with engineers of the Navy.
With an unprecedented Transfer of Technology program at hand, Naval Group undertook a very ambitious program 12 years ago: to support the growth of the Brazilian submarine force. First phase: to help Brazil build and operate four conventional Scorpène® submarines (SBR), in a new shipyard and operational naval base built in Itaguai for this purpose. Prosub (Programma Submarino) also plans for a second phase; support from Naval Group in the design and construction of a new class of nuclear-powered submarines, the SNBR.
French naval shipbuilder DCN (Direction des Constructions Navales) is part of the French Ministry of Defence. Most of the fighting ships operated by the French Navy are designed, built, tested and maintained by DCN. Further, every weapon carried by every warship in the French Navy was integrated by DCN. A total of six submarines of the Redoutable class were built at Cherbourg Naval Dockyard – part of the major French Naval builder DCN, from 1967 to 1982.
Naval Group (formerly known as Direction des Constructions Navales or DCNS) is a global and major French defense contractor and an industrial group that specialized in naval-based defense. The group employs next to 16,000 people in 18 countries. The company is owned in part by the Agence des participations de l’État, a private company through which the French state holds a 62.49% stake, Thales holds 35% and the personnel a 1.64% stake. The remaining 0.87% are owned by the heir to the French naval dockyards and the Direction des Constructions et Armes Navales (DCAN), which became the DCN (Direction des Constructions Navales) in 1991, DCNS in 2007 and Naval Group since 2017.
Scorpène® submarines have previous international succesfull cases with Chile (2 units) Malaysia (2 units), India (6 units) and now Brazil.
Brazilian sovereignty
On top of becoming one of the few powers to dispose of nuclear-powered submarines, the challenge for this large South American nation was to assert its territorial sovereignty in the “Blue Amazon”, its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Equivalent to the surface area of the Amazon forest, the Brazilian maritime territory covers 3.6 million km2 of Atlantic coastline, and is rich in marine biodiversity and energy resources. If consdering all the River baisin areas and the continenal platform under the current claims, it would reaches about 5. 7 million km2.
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Transfer of Technology and training
In order to assist Brazil in its goal, Naval Group went further than ever before in terms of Transfer of Technology and training of Brazilian engineers and sailors. Representative of the scale of commitment, the joint venture with Itaguaï Constructoes Navais (ICN) includes nearly 2,000 Brazilian employees and around 15 French employees, as well as hundreds of Naval Group employees working back office on all French sites and front office in Sao Paulo (assistance in the design of the Brazilian nuclear-powered submarines, the SNBR) and in technical assistance in Itaguai. The Transfer of Technology also involved training the Brazilian teams in Cherbourg for several months to enable the manufacture and assembly of the Scorpène® submarines in Itaguai.
Besides the submarines, it also includes building industrial infrastructure and operational facilities, that would support not only construction / maintenance of submarines, but also support submarines already in operation. That includes the shipyards, the Naval Base and the metalic structures construction unit (UFEM) at Itaguaí RJ (inaugurated on March 1st, 2013).
The SN-BR program was started on July 6th 2012, at COGESN. However, the involved engineers and technicians were prepared elsewhere DCN/NavalGroup, in between August 2010 and May 2012, as per the technology transfer contract signed between France and Brazl.
The agreement between Brazil and France defines DCNS to build 5 class Scorpéne submarines in Brazil, while transfering technology along the construction process, to the Brazilian Navy (Brazilian Armed Forces). Hence, as its sole discretion, DCNS chose Odebrecht as a local construction partner to build a shipyard from the scratch at Itaguaí RJ.
Construction and design
Whereas the first phase of the partnership between Naval Group and the Brazilian Navy has been centred around the construction in Itaguai of four Scorpène® and the corresponding naval base, in parallel with the preliminary projects on the SNBR, the second phase aims to develop and build the first Brazilian nuclear-powered submarine (SNBR) and the related infrastructures. For Brazil, this entails the acquisition of industrial and architectural skills on the conventional Scorpène® submarines prior to developing and building its future nuclear-powered submarine. A phase for which, in accordance with France’s commitment and in compliance with international legislature, Naval Group provides technical assistance to the Brazilian Navy, excluding for the nuclear reactor.
Assessment and outlook
Large-scale works have thus given rise to a first-rate industrial and military site: the Itaguai naval base. “We acted as advisers for the infrastructure component, providing a considerable Transfer of Technology to the Brazilian Navy. Our Brazilian industrial partner then undertook the construction of the infrastructures, more than 100 buildings and a tunnel running more than 700 metres to transport the sections of submarines before assembling them on the Itaguai naval base.”
The First-Of-Class, the Riachuelo will be delivered 2021. The other Brazilian Scorpène® submarines will be delivered in 2022, 2023 and 2024. All will be equipped with Naval Group’s new-generation F21 heavy-weight torpedo, for which Brazil is the first international client.
Prosub will allow Naval Group to strengthen its strategic partnership with the Brazilian navy for many years to come. “Beyond 2035,” specifies Vincent Larnaudie-Eiffel, “We intend to provide support to our Brazilian partners over the entire life cycle of their ships, including servicing and maintenance.” Thanks to the successful Transfer of Technology and unfailing support granted to the Brazilian Navy since 2008, Naval Group strengthens its position as a leading industrial player.
Key figures for Prosub
- 4 conventional submarines (SBR) + 1 SNBR
- The Itaguai naval base contains 800 m3 of concrete, roughly equivalent to 3 European Pressurised Reactors (EPR)
- The metal structure built in the Itaguai naval base is equivalent to no less than 3 Eiffel Towers
- More than 3,000 people have contributed to this program over 12 years
The Submarine Development Program (PROSUB) is one of the main strategic projects of the Brazilian Armed Forces and aims to increase the national defense structure and ensure Brazilian maritime sovereignty, also supporting AMAZÔNIA AZUL program.
The program strengthens the national industrial sector, increasing its strategic importance to the economic development of Brazil. To date, it generated 4000 jobs and integrates the Metallic Structures Manufacturing Unit, the Shipyards, the Radiological Complex, & the Naval Base.
At the Itaguaí naval complex near Rio de Janeiro, and other sites scattered across Brazil, hundreds of engineers are slowly designing and piecing together parts of the Álvaro Alberto, a nuclear-powered submarine named after a former vice-admiral and pioneer of the country’s nuclear programme.
Besides four conventional submarines, the goal is to build the first nuclear submarine in the Southern Hemisphere (even before Australia). Today, nuclear submarines are only operated by the US, Russia, China, the UK and France – with which Brazil has partnered to develop its own nuclear submarine.
Introduction to the nuclear issue
Nuclear propulsion for military use, more frequently in submarines, is considered a loophole in the nuclear non-proliferation regime (Ma & Von Hippel, 2001; Moltz 1998; 2005; 2006; Thielmann and Hoffman 2012); for a different view, see Guimarães 2005). That is is because nuclear propulsion for military craft isa Non-Proscribed Military Activity (NPMA), and the nuclear material used in reactors for that specific purpose is not subject to safeguards. During the negotiations of the Non-Proliferation Treaty – NPT, – it became clear that some prospective members might not join it out of interest in nuclear propulsion for ships and concern about how NPT might impact that. Should safeguards be applied in that case, much of the discretion that is the raison d’être of a submarine in the first place would be compromised or forfeited. But even then, in the late 1960s, it was already considered “a serious loophole in the safeguards prescribed by the Treaty”) (Fischer 1997, 272) because during the unsafeguarded periods of its life-cycle, the nuclear material in the reactor could be diverted for the production of nuclear weapons.
The risk increases with the degree of enrichment of the nuclear material: if the uranium in the reactor is enriched to around 90% 235U (usually called weapons-grade uranium1), it could be directly used in nuclear weapons; if it is enriched to around 20% or more 235U (usually referred to highly-enriched uranium or HEU), it could easily be enriched to weapon-grade uranium. Uranium enriched to less than 20% 235U is usually called low-enriched uranium or LEU and, at a level below 10% 235U, it becomes more difficult to substantially enrich to weapons-grade uranium2 or close to it (Barroso 2009; Bernstein 2008; Bodansky 2004; Heriot 1988; Murray 2001)3. Uranium for land-based nuclear reactors is usually enriched to around 3.5%-5% 235U. Therefore, from a nuclear nonproliferation standpoint, risks would be minimized if naval nuclear reactors had LEU, and particularly less than 10% 235U content, as its nuclear fissile material.
As a practical matter, this was not too important until recently, because all countries that produced and operated nuclear submarines were either Nuclear Weapon States — NWS according to NPT (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States) or non-NPT members with nuclear weapons (India), which means that it was taken for granted that they had nuclear material for explosive devices.
But the possibility that Brazil, a NPT Non-Nuclear Weapon State — NNWS, might launch its own nuclear submarine gives the matter heightened importance (Egel et al. 2015; Moore et al. 2016), and puts the issue of applying safeguards to the submarine nuclear fuel cycle in the spotlight. In fact, whatever becomes the accepted practice of safeguards related to Brazil’s nuclear submarine is bound to set the precedent in the matter for all other NPT countries in the future (Dawood et al. 2015; Kassenova 2014; Phillipe 2014a; 2014b), and therefore it is poised to become a very important issue for the non-proliferation regime and the international nuclear order. When the time for launching the first Brazilian nuclear submarine approaches, and some of the most important decisions are taken, Brazil must be prepared for renewed international scrutiny and pressure. If the most controversial issues are identified and discussed in advance, concerns can be addressed in time and mistrust (and significant, additional adjustment costs) can be avoided, to everybody’s benefit.
The discussion below does not mean or imply any kind of endorsement of the idea that Brazil needs nuclear-propelled submarines, or that they would be in Brazil’s best interest. In this article, Brazil’s decision to pursue them is just taken for granted, independently of its merits (or lack thereof).
Brazil’s nuclear submarine
Brazil’s nuclear submarine is being built with French assistance, except for the nuclear reactor and associated uranium fuel-cycle technology, which is being developed by the Brazilian Navy. According to open sources, the Brazilian Nuclear Submarine Álvaro Alberto (SN 10), which would be the first of 6 planned nuclear submarines, would run on a 48-50 MWth reactor4 (NTI 2015a; Padilha 2012), would displace around 6,000 metric tons in a hull around 100 m long and 10 m beam with a crew of 100 personnel (Padilha 2012), and its patrolling time, including transit time, would be 3 months (Brazil 2014; Padilha 2012). Nuclear refueling would take place every 5 years, and would not require cuts in the internal structure. It’s maximum operational depth would be around 350 m, and its maximum submerged speed would be 24-26 knots (Izique, 2007; Kassenova, 2014; Padilha 2012).
So, it would be substantially larger than: (i) the French submarines of the non-nuclear Scorpène class (66,4 m length, 6,2 m beam, 1,711 t submerged), in which SN-10’s design would be based, (ii) the nuclear Barracuda class (99,5 m length, 8,8 m beam, 4,765 t surfaced), and (iii) the Rubis class (72,10 m length, 7,6 m beam, 2,670 t submerged). Álvaro Alberto will have smaller time between refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) procedures: 5 years, against 7 years for the Rubis and expected 10 years for the Barracuda (Defense Industry Daily, 2015; Ewing 2011; Huan and Moulin 2010).
What is not clear is the degree of enrichment of the nuclear fuel for its reactor. The chairman of the Brazilian Navy’s Nuclear-Propelled Submarine Development Program, Admiral Gilberto Max Roffé Hirschfeld, insisted, during a hearing at the Brazilian Senate’s Foreign Relations and National Defense Committee in 2014, that the nuclear fuel for the submarine’s reactor would be enriched to 6-8% (Brazil, 2014). On the other hand, Kassenova (2014), in her systematic review of Brazil’s nuclear activities, claims that “… All indications are that Brazil will power its submarines with fuel produced from uranium enriched to 18–19 percent.” (p. 29). The latter figures were mentioned by former CNEN’s chairman Odair Gonçalves in 2005 (Huntington 2005; Pomper and Huntington, 2005). This is a very important issue.
Reference / source: See more detals at Revista Brasileira de política internacional.
PROSUB achievements, so far
In december 2018, the “Riachuelo”, 1st submarine built through the program, went into the sea.
In October 2019, the “Humaitá” (S-41), 2nd submarine built through the program, had its sections fully united. It went into the sea in 2020, after a 6-year construction period.
On Augut 12th, 2020, “Riachuelo” (S 40) successfuly tested its capabilities, such as propulsion, driving, navigation etc, along 8 nautical miles in the Sepetiba bay.
On December 11th, 2020, during the celebration of the sailor´s day, the “Tonelero” (S-42), 3rd submarine built through the program, had its sections fully united. Also during the clebration, “Riachuelo” (S-40) went ready to starting its testing phase. “Tonelero” (S-42) expected delivery is Q4 2022 (as o this edition, it wa 78% ready). Its testing phase is scheduled to March 2023 and its naval commissioning is expected for 2024 (As per the official info available on April 2022).
The “Angostura” (S-43), is expected to be launched by Q4 2023, to be tested at sea in 2024, being commissioned in 2025 (its 52% ready as we write those lines.
The most important unit, the “Álvaro Alberto” (SN-BR), the first Brazilian conventional submarine using nuclear propulsion, is expected to be ready by 2029,
With active participation in the Navy Nuclear Program (PNM), Brazilian Nuclear Program (PNB) and Submarine Development Program (PROSUB), Amazul is the company that hired NUCLEP (Nuclebrás Equipamentos Pesados SA) to manufacture part of the prototype of the nuclear propulsion reactor.
The nuclear reactor prototype plant is being developed by LABGENE (Laboratório de Geração Nucleoelétrica), NUCLEP. for the propulsion systems of the future SNBR Álvaro Alberto.
Regardless the COVID-19 restrictions and the economic colateral effects of the pandemic, PROSUB has been keeping up on the delivery schedule, able to honor its cost payment. Its an extremely strategic program for the country from the industrial, technological, skilled labor training / formation, social divide reduction and job creation perspectives.
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