The Riachuelo, 71 meters long and capable of accommodating 35 crew members for 70 days at sea, was officially handed over to the navy and automatically incorporated into the country’s navy at a ceremony at the Ilha da Madeira submarine base in Itaguai. Naval complex, base on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.
| Font: AFP
The submarine was launched in December 2018 while it was in its testing phase, and it will begin operating by the Navy 5 years behind the initial schedule of the Brazilian Submarine Development Program (Prosub).
| Font: AFP
The Riachuelo, or C-40 as it was known to the navy, has a 6.2 meter hull, a surface displacement of 1,740 tons, reaching 1,900 tons when fully submerged, and the ability to descend up to 300 tons. meters deep.
| Font: AFP
The ship has six weapon launchers, as well as advanced sensors, including a significant array of sonar and periscopes with night vision cameras.
| Font: EFE
Riachuelo was built in a shipyard located in the Itaguaia naval complex itself, where Brazil builds four conventional submarines modeled on the French Scorpene.
| Font: EFE
So far, the Navy has launched Riachuelo and Humaitá, and it intends to launch Tonelero (2024) and Angostura (2025) in the coming years.
| Font: EFE
The entire project is projected to be completed in 2034 when the nuclear submarine is launched and Brazil becomes part of an exclusive group that dominates nuclear submarine propulsion technology, which includes only China, the US, France and England. and Russia, five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
| Font: EFE
The construction of the submarines is the result of a 6.7 billion euro (about $6.663 million in today’s exchange rate) technology transfer and military cooperation contract that Brazil signed in 2009 with state-controlled French shipyards DCNS.
| Font: EFE
With Riachuelo, the Brazilian Navy now has six active submarines, the same number as Peru, which used to be the South American country with the largest fleet, although its models were older.
| Font: EFE
After the military presentation, Brazilians will be able to see the submarine in front of the Copacabana beach on September 7, when it will take part in the naval parade, which the Navy will hold in honor of the 200th anniversary of Brazil’s independence.
| Font: EFE
Prosub’s goal is to protect the so-called “Blue Amazon”, as the navy calls the nearly 4.5 million square kilometers of Brazilian sea waters, which are rich in biodiversity and vast reserves of minerals and oil.
| Font: EFE
Source: RPP
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