Brazil military upgrade plan includes nuclear submarines and satellites

[CougarKing]

Time to learn Portuguese?

BRASÍLIA — President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil unveiled a new national defense strategy on Thursday, calling for upgrading the military forces and remaking the defense industry. The plan also called for a debate in Brazil on whether mandatory military service should be enforced and how the armed forces should be professionalized.

With the commanders of Brazil’s army, navy and air force in attendance, Mr. da Silva said in a speech here that Brazil, despite its pacifist history, needed a stronger defense against potential aggression if it was to continue on the road to becoming a global power.

The new strategic vision, more than a year in the making, calls for Brazil to invest more in military technology, including satellites, and to build a nuclear-powered submarine fleet that would be used to protect territorial waters and Brazil’s deepwater oil platforms. The proposal also calls for an expansion of the armed forces to protect the country’s Amazon borders and for retraining troops so they are capable of rapid-strike, guerrilla-style warfare.

“Brazil’s vision of its military’s role fits well with the country’s growing international seriousness and economic and institutional capacity,” said Michael Shifter, a vice president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a policy research group in Washington. “It is seeking to be a more cohesive national power, and that requires exercising full control over its vast territory and borders.”

Despite the country’s recent economic boom and the strong role the military has traditionally played in Brazilian society, military spending has been stagnant and troop levels have remained steady around 312,000, the government said. Brazil spent a lower proportion of its gross domestic product on defense in 2006 than four of its South American neighbors — Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia — according to the Security and Defense Network of Latin America, a research group based in Buenos Aires.

The president’s new military strategy, outlined in a 101-page document, has been introduced as drug trafficking increases along Brazil’s Amazon borders and as some of the country’s neighbors — including Venezuela, Colombia and Chile — have been upgrading their militaries. Venezuela has been particularly active, buying $4 billion in arms from Russia. Brazilian officials denied that Venezuela’s bolstering of its armed forces or plans by the United States Navy to revive a Fourth Fleet to patrol the South Atlantic had directly influenced the creation of the new military strategy.

“We are not concerned by the strength of our neighbors, but we are concerned by our own weakness,” said Roberto Mangabeira Unger, the minister of strategic affairs and a co-author of the plan. “The national defense strategy is not a circumstantial response to circumstantial problems. It is a far-reaching inflection, a change of course and a change of direction.”

Relations between Brazil and Venezuela remain essentially friendly, and Latin American leaders are promoting regional unity as a way to weather the global recession. Mr. da Silva and President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela are pushing for the creation of a South American defense council, an idea that was discussed this week at a meeting in Brazil of leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The new defense strategy does call for Brazil to become more independent of other countries’ military technology. It emphasizes a reorganization of the nation’s defense industry to focus on forming partnerships with other countries so that Brazil is involved in creating the new technologies. “We are no longer interested in buying weapons off the shelf,” Mr. Mangabeira Unger said.

Brazilian officials have approached a number of countries about potential partnerships, including the United States, India, France, Russia and Britain.

The Brazilian Army would be reshaped to be a more mobile, quick-strike force. Only about 10 percent of its soldiers are now trained for rapid deployment. The entire army would be reconstituted at the brigade level to be able to strike quickly, “so that a warrior would also be a guerrilla,” Mr. Mangabeira Unger said.

The plan also involved enforcing existing laws on mandatory conscription to draw people from all classes, not just the poorer ones, to make for a more highly skilled fighting force.

“This will be a novel debate for Brazil about national sacrifice,” Mr. Mangabeira Unger said. “There has been no moment in our national history when we have squarely had the kind of debate that I hope we will have now.”

nytimes

 

[NL_engineer]

Does Brazil have the capability to build/launch satellites? 

Time to learn Portuguese?

:rofl:

maybe after they defeat the US Navy

 

[CougarKing]

And now we know where they'll get the SSNs:

Brazil and France sign arms deal

Brazil has signed an 8.6bn euro ($12bn; £8.2bn) defence deal with France to buy 50 helicopters and five submarines.

The deal includes transfers of technology intended to help Brazil develop its own arms industry.

It was signed at the end of a two-day visit to Brazil by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

France will provide technology for the submarines, of which four will be conventional and the fifth will be nuclear-powered.

They will be partly built and assembled in Brazil.

The 50 EC725 helicopters will be built locally by Helibras, a subsidiary of Eurocopter, which is part of the European aerospace company EADS.

The aircraft are expected to be delivered in 2010.

'Historic decision'

A French official was cited as saying that 6bn euros would go to French companies and 2.6bn euros to Brazilian ones.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the deal reflected Brazil's status as an emerging power.

"France is willing to... build an alliance in Brazil, to transfer technology so Brazil can have a defence industry that corresponds to its importance in the hemisphere, in the world," he said.

Mr Sarkozy said: "It is an historic decision because France believes that a powerful Brazil is an important element for the stability of the world."

Earlier in the visit he had argued that Brazil should have a greater role in international affairs and a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

 

[Yrys]

Brazil and France sign arms deal, BBC News

Brazil has signed an 8.6bn euro ($12bn; £8.2bn) defence deal with France
to buy 50 helicopters and five submarines.

The deal includes transfers of technology intended to help Brazil develop its
own arms industry. It was signed at the end of a two-day visit to Brazil by
French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

France will provide technology for the submarines, of which four will be
conventional and the fifth will be nuclear-powered. They will be partly
built and assembled in Brazil.

The 50 EC725 helicopters will be built locally by Helibras, a subsidiary of
Eurocopter, which is part of the European aerospace company EADS.
The aircraft are expected to be delivered in 2010.

'Historic decision'

A French official was cited as saying that 6bn euros would go to French
companies and 2.6bn euros to Brazilian ones. Brazilian President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva said the deal reflected Brazil's status as an emerging
power.

"France is willing to... build an alliance in Brazil, to transfer technology so
Brazil can have a defence industry that corresponds to its importance in
the hemisphere, in the world," he said.

Mr Sarkozy said: "It is an historic decision because France believes that a
powerful Brazil is an important element for the stability of the world."

Earlier in the visit he had argued that Brazil should have a greater role in
international affairs and a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

 

[old medic]

Does Brazil have the capability to build/launch satellites? 

Develop and Operate as of this 2006 Satellite Today article.  Looks like they have been
working on the launch vehicle.

http://www.satellitetoday.com/enterprise/applications/03/14961.html

Brazil Seeks Larger Place In Global Space Industry
By Gordon Feller
December 1, 2006

With a budget surplus and roaring economic growth, Brazil has set it sights on some significant new satellite and space initiative. The South American giant has recorded some moderate success throughout its space history, but the country’s latest efforts, spread across several fronts, are intended to put Brazil on a more equal footing with the world’s space superpowers.

Brazil has owned and operated telecom satellites for the past two decades. While the country has yet to develop an indigenous communication satellite manufacturing industry, the country’s “Brazil’s ambitions are much broader and date back many years, with its plans to develop scientific satellite manufacturing, test and tracking capabilities, and an indigenous launch vehicle contained in its complete space plan announced in 1981,” says John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.

There have been many delays and setbacks along the way, including changes in government, severe budget problems and a 2003 launch pad accident during preparations for the launch of a VLS-1 rocket that killed 21 people, but “there have also been significant successes,” Logsdon says. “Brazil has developed and operated several of its own satellites, although it had to turn to the United States for launch services. It has been a leader in space collaboration with China, as the two countries have jointly developed the CBERS (China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite) series and has also cooperated with Russia and Ukraine.”

article continues on link.......

http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-1826.html

Brazil has the most advanced space program in Latin America, with significant capabilities in launch vehicles, launch sites, and satellite manufacturing. In an attempt to build a Satellite Launch Vehicle (Veículo Lançador de Satélite--VLS), Brazil has since 1964 developed a series of sounding (research) rockets, named Sonda I, II, III, and IV. The early Sondas were test-launched from Barreira do Inferno (literally, "Barrier of Hell") Launch Center (Centro de Lançamento da Barreira do Inferno), near the city of Natal in the Northeast (Nordeste). The Sonda IV rocket was tested successfully on April 28, 1989. Subsequent launches were made from the Alcântara Launching Center (Centro de Lançamento de Alcântara--CLA), in Maranhão, President Sarney's home state. The CLA, officially dedicated on February 21, 1990, cost more than US$470 million to develop. It is the closest launch center to the equator in the world (2.3 degrees south of the equator), making it attractive for launches of geostationary satellites. For example, because it is so close to the equator it provides a 25 percent fuel savings compared with Cape Kennedy.

On February 9, 1993, the first satellite developed entirely in Brazil, the Data-Collecting Satellite (Satélite de Coleta de Dados--SCD-1), was launched from a United States B-52 plane carrying a Pegasus rocket made by the American Orbital Science Corporation......................

 

[CougarKing]

An update:

link

Brazil begins building 4 diesel-powered submarines, looks ahead to having nuclear vessell

By The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – 15 minutes ago
RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil has begun building four diesel-powered submarines as part of a 2008 agreement with France that includes the future construction of Latin America's first nuclear submarine.

President Dilma Rousseff attended Saturday's ceremony marking the startup of operations at the shipyard where the four Scorpene attack submarines will be built.

Each submarine will cost about $565 million. The first is expected to be delivered in 2016.

The Brazilian navy says the four vessels represent a first step in moving Brazil toward construction of its first nuclear-propelled submarine.

Officials have said the submarines will be used to protect Brazil's large offshore oil reserves and exploration platforms.

 

[CougarKing]

An update:

Navy Recognition

Brazil's Nuclear Powered Attack Submarine "SNB" SSN Project Postponed Until 2025

The nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) program of the Brazilian Navy (Marinha do Brasil) will have to wait until 2025 because of budgetary restrictions. This was announced to Brazilian media by the commander of the navy, the admiral Eduardo Leal Ferreira Bacellar.
   
The nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) program of the Brazilian Navy (Marinha do Brasil) will have to wait until 2025 because of budgetary restrictions. This was announced to Brazilian media by the commander of the navy, the admiral Eduardo Leal Ferreira Bacellar.
Submarino Nuclear Brasileiro (SNB) "Alvaro Alberto" SN10, the future SSN of the Brazilian Navy
   
Launched in 1979, the project has already been delayed in the past. The development of a nuclear submarine was integrated as part of a larger program, the PROSUB programme (PROgrama de SUBmarinos) during president Lula's mandate. Tthis is one of the main projects of the Brazilian Navy
(...SNIPPED)