Brazilian Navy commissions Humaita, second scorpene submarine

The Brazilian Navy commissioned the second of the four Scorpene submarines of the ProSub program, Humaita at the Itaguai Naval base in Rio de Janeiro.

The Humaita has notably been built entirely in Brazil by Itaguai Construcoes Navais (ICN) , an official press release of the Naval Group said.

The scorpene-class submarine was commissioned in the presence of Jose Mucio Monteiro, Brazilian Minister of Defence and Emmanuel Chiva, French General Delegate for Armaments on January 12.

After the Humaita's sea trials were successfully completed, it was transported and put into use by the Brazilian Navy. In September 2022, the Brazilian Navy put the Riachuelo, the program's first submarine, into service. Tonelero and Angostura, the last two submarines in the series, are scheduled to launch in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

"Today, with DGA from France, we celebrate the success of our cooperation with ICN and our long-term relation and collaboration with Brazil. The success of this program is collective and aimed at strengthening the Brazilian Navy and industry as well as reinforcing the country's regional and global influence. We are proud to be part of the ProSub Program with all our partners. Our teams remain committed to keep on meeting the Brazilian navy expectations," the release quoted Pierre Eric Pommellet, CEO of Naval Group as saying.

Scorpene is a modern, high-performant, and stealthy submarine. It's an ocean-going submarine also designed for shallow waters operations. Extremely stealthy and fast, it has a level of operating automation that allows a limited number of crew, which reduces its operating costs significantly. Its combat edge is highlighted by the fact that it has 6 weapon launching tubes, 18 weapons (torpedoes, missiles).

Scorpene is equipped with the latest generation of combat system, SUBTICS, which addresses the growing challenges of modern submarine missions in blue and shallow waters in the entire domain of submarine warfare.

Highly modular and scalable, SUBTICS can be integrated either on new platforms or as part of modernisation programmes for existing submarines.

"The final configuration of the submarine is adapted to meet the specific needs of navies and incorporate new technologies. For example, the Brazilian Scorpene® will be slightly longer than the conventional model to carry a larger crew and more food and fuel. These modifications will enable it to patrol longer and cover greater distances. All of the Brazilian Scorpene submarines will be equipped with Naval Group's new-generation F21 heavy-weight torpedo, for which Brazil is the first international client," the Naval Group said in its release.

In 2009, within the framework of the French-Brazilian strategic defence cooperation agreement, the Brazilian Navy chose Naval Group for its Programa de desenvolvimento de Submarinos, the ProSub program.

Moreover, Brazil decided to reinforce its submarine force with four new conventional submarines (SSK) and the development of an indigenous nuclear-powered submarine (SSN).

The Scorpene submarines of the ProSub program are manufactured and assembled in the shipyard built in Itaguai by ICN. Naval Group contributed to this program by transferring technology, supplying the submarine design file, the equipment that makes up the submarines and technical assistance.