As the largest country in South America, Brazil once had a powerful navy. The two “Minas Gerais” class battleships with a full load of 21,200 tons of displacement have given Brazil's naval power the top spot in South America, and once triggered a naval arms race with Argentina and Chile. Unfortunately, due to the economic downturn and financial crisis, Brazil ordered the British battleship "Rio de Janeiro" with a full displacement of 30,860 tons, and ultimately failed to serve. Since then, the Brazilian Navy has begun a downward trend. although. After 1945, Brazil introduced two aircraft carriers from the United Kingdom and France successively, the "Minas Gerais" (the British "Giant" class aircraft carrier "Vengeance") and the "São Paulo" (the French "Clemenceau"). "Class "Foch"). What is unexpected is that Brazil, which joined the "Aircraft Carrier Club" early, has created an escort formation for aircraft carriers, but it feels "shabby". Because, at this time, the main equipment of the Brazilian Navy is mostly second-hand retired US ships, including 3 "Killing" class and 8 "Fletcher" class destroyers. By the end of the 1960s, Brazil had purchased six brand-new "Niteroi"-class frigates, finally making the Brazilian navy's surface no longer a "second-hand" world. What makes Brazil even more exciting is that this type of frigate designed by the British, with a full displacement of 3707 tons, was built by Rio de Janeiro’s Hochcroft Shipyard. After that, Brazil made persistent efforts and built 4 more "Inhauma"-class light frigates with a full load of 1970 tons.
It can be said that while Brazil has acquired a new frigate, it has also upgraded its domestic warship manufacturing capabilities. This is definitely a "double happiness" thing. However, after the completion of the "Niteroi" class frigate, Brazil once again returned to the situation of purchasing second-hand frigates. First, in 1989, in the name of "lease", 4 "Pala" class destroyers ("Garcia class" frigates) were obtained from the United States. Although the full-load displacement of these four frigates reached 3,600 tons, they were products from the 1960s after all. By the mid-1990s, Brazil had introduced four more "Greenhag" class frigates ("Broadsword" class frigates) from Britain. This type of frigate with a full load of 4,400 tons and a displacement of 4,400 tons can be called the most advanced frigate with the strongest comprehensive combat capability in Brazil at that time. After introducing 7 destroyers from Britain and the United States, Brazil had 18 destroyers at one time.
However, these 18 ships actually looked old and weak. When three "Pala" class destroyers and one "Greenhag" class were successively decommissioned, Brazil's frigate was suddenly reduced to 14. At this time, the Brazilian Navy’s destroyer and frigate force not only had poor performance, but also shrank significantly in number. As a result, Brazil began to formulate a new shipbuilding plan, and began to build the "Barroso" frigate in the 1990s. As a result, this light frigate with a full load and displacement of only 2,350 tons took 5 years to build. Moreover, no matter the ship’s electronic equipment is not advanced, the armament is also commonplace. As a result, the status of this frigate in the Brazilian Navy is like a "chicken rib", "the food is tasteless, but it is a pity to discard it."
may understand that there is still a huge gap in the design and construction of ships, so the Brazilian Navy has formulated a new "PROSUPER project." The core of the project is the procurement of 17 frigates for the Brazilian Navy, including 12 light frigates and 5 large frigates with a displacement of about 6,000 tons. In addition, budget requirements have been proposed for the two frigates. The unit price of a light frigate should be around US$380 million, and the unit price of a large frigate should be around US$700 million. After the launch of this plan, Brazil first passed the construction budget of the new generation of domestically-made light frigate "Tamandaré class" in 2017, and then launched a global tender in 2018. Finally, in 2019, the design proposal submitted by the team composed of Germany's Thyssen Krupp Maritime Systems (TKMS) and Brazil's Blue Ocean Group (águas Azuis) was selected.
This type is based on the MEKO-A100 frigate, designed "towerThe Mandala" class frigate is 107.2 meters long, 15.95 meters wide, has a draft of 5.2 meters, and has a full load displacement of 3,455 tons. It adopts a full diesel power system with a maximum speed of 28 knots and a cruising speed of 14 knots. The main weaponry is an Otto 76 mm. Naval gun, a Bofors MK.4 40mm naval gun, 32-unit CAMM air defense missile (British "Sea Receptor", SeaCeptor), 2 double-mounted "Flying Fish" MM40Block3 anti-ship missiles. Mainly The avionics system is the "Artisan" (Aristan3D) light rotating phased array radar of British BAE, the STIR1.2EO fire control radar of Europe Thales Group, and the "PASEOXLR" omnidirectional photoelectric identification and fire control system of France Safran Group. , Spain’s Indra’s “RIGEL” integrated RESM/RECM mast system and Germany’s Atlas’ head sonar.
“Tamandare” class frigates, the current contract is to build four ships, and the estimated delivery time is 2024-2028. The total budget of the four frigates is 1.6 billion U.S. dollars, and the unit price is 400 million U.S. dollars. Although it is 20 million dollars higher than the initial estimate, this is not unacceptable. It is estimated that when these four frigates are built After completion, Brazil will decide whether to continue to order the "Tamandare" class frigate, or to purchase an updated light frigate, or to purchase a large frigate based on actual needs. However, whether Brazil will choose Germany to continue its cooperation will be marked A big question mark. After all, in terms of frigates, the trend of France and Italy is not obvious, especially in the export of 6,000-ton large frigates, they are even ahead of Germany.
However, what is the future choice of Brazil, there is only waiting time. Testimony. But what is certain is that when the "PROSUPER project" fails to obtain the completion of the construction plan for 17 frigates, the Brazilian Navy can truly reborn and become the veritable South American naval power.
