Brazil to give 4 submarines to Argentina

camberiu

Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2012
Messages
3,880
Likes
4,611
According to Infobae, the Brazilian Navy will transfer four of its domestically build, German designed IKL-209 submarines to the Armada Argentina. As the subs are gradually replaced by the new (also domestically build) Riachuelo class, they will be transferred to Argentina. It is an unexpected end to a submarine building race between the two countries that started in the late 70s. In many ways, it is the repetition of the story of the story of the Hare vs the Tortoise.
It all started back in the late 70s, when Argentina embarked on an incredibly ambitious program to acquire the know-how and capability to build advanced diesel-electric submarines domestically. For that, Argentina reached out to a shipyard in then West Germany and laid out a series of requirements for what would become the TR-1700 project.
The TR-1700 class was the largest and most ambitious non-nuclear submarines of the era, vastly outclassing any other sub deployed South of the Equator at the time. In terms of electronics and sensors, it outclassed even most nuclear subs deployed by the UK, France and the USSR at the time. Even the German Navy, the country where the submarines were being designed, did not posses vessels this advanced. The idea was that the first two subs of the class would be build in Germany and the other four would be build in Argentina. It was a very aggressive and audacious plan. The TR-1700 was an extremely complex and advanced work of engineering, requiring very advanced metallurgy, machinery and manufacturing techniques to be build. It was also very expensive. But the Argentines felt confided that they could tackle the challenge.
Seeing their regional arch rivals embark in such a project that would give them the ability to dominate the South Atlantic, the Brazilian government had no choice but to also start a domestic submarine program. However, lacking the audacity and self confidence of its neighbors, and having a long tradition of steady gradual progress instead of attempts of leaps of engineering, Brazil opted for a much more conservative approach: The domestic production of the much more simple German designed IKL-209 submarine. Unlike the TR-1700, the IKL-209 was much simpler, being half of the size of its Argentine counterpart and not nearly as advanced. It was also a tested and proven design, and well within the industrial (and financial) capabilities possessed by Brazil at the time. If the TR-1700 was to be considered the equivalent of the Porsche of the submarines, the IKL-209 was the Toyota Camry.
However, in the early 80s, a massive economic crisis, triggered by Mexico's Debt default, devastated the economies of Latin America. Government programs budget were slashed to the bone and the submarine programs of both Brazil and Argentina were heavily affected.

Because the Brazilian program was much cheaper and required less development of new manufacturing technologies, even with severe budget cuts, the Brazilian Navy was able to slow down the project enough without having to kill it. Despite many delays due to budget cuts, eventually the first IKL-209 submarine for the Brazilian Navy was build in Germany. The others were successfully build at the Arsenal da Marinha, in Rio de Janeiro, giving Brazil true know how on submarine manufacturing. Based on the acquired knowledge, a new more advanced class of submarines (The Tikuna Class) was developed domestically and build without foreign oversight or assistance. Brazil now had full command of advanced submarine manufacturing techniques. Those techniques are the basis being applied to Brazil's future nuclear powered submarine, the SN Alvaro de Alberto.
But the Argentine side did not fare so well. The combination of the economic crisis with the delays and budget overruns when building such submarines domestically doomed the Argentinian project. The ARA Santa Fe and Santiago del Estero were left unfinished on an Argentine shipyard and only the two subs built in Germany were delivered: The ARA Santa Cruz and ARA San Juan. Worse, the acquisition of fabrication know-how did not take place and Argentina did not developed the much desired technological capability of designing and building submarines domestically.
And now 40 years later Argentina will be receiving used IKL-209 submarines from Brazil, to replace the subs that were originally expected to compete against, the TR-1700.

I doubt that anyone from either country involved in these projects back then expected this to be the outcome of the submarine race of the late 70s and 80s in the South Atlantic.
 
Back
Top