Naval News : African and Latin American Nations
- Thread starter Ankit Kumar
- Start date
You can't really match Korean on shipbuilding. But aerospace we have definite advantages.
Submarines: Argentina chooses France and Naval Group's Scorpène
Argentine President Javier Milei has officially announced the selection of the Scorpène submarine, manufactured by Naval Group.
Argentina has officially chosen the Scorpène submarine to equip its navy, which will finally regain operational submarine capabilities. The country won the competition against ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), which offered the German Type 209 NG submarine. President Milei himself, buoyed by his recent success in the legislative elections, made the announcement yesterday during an interview with Public Sénat. He was responding to a question about relations between Argentina and France: “We have excellent relations with France. We buy submarines and coastal patrol vessels. So we have excellent relations with France,” the Argentine president stated. The Naval Group deal is excellent news, even though the contract still needs to be negotiated and finalized, and financing for this order still needs to be secured. Buenos Aires signed a non-binding Letter of Intent (LoI) with France more than a year ago, outlining the terms for the purchase of three Scorpène submarines, as well as the provision of services (spare parts and training). This order is valued at €2.3 billion. Argentina would like to acquire three submarines, ideally Scorpène Evolved (2,000 tons) equipped with lithium-ion batteries. The country possesses significant lithium reserves. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), Argentina tops this global ranking, with just over 23 million tons.
French Patrol Vessels Selected
Javier Milei also mentioned the selection of offshore patrol vessels. More than a year ago, Buenos Aires selected the French company Kership, a joint venture between the Piriou shipyard (55%) and Naval Group (45%), to build four lightly armed Gowind-class OPVs for the Naval Prefecture, a force under the Argentine Ministry of the Interior. However, the contract has not yet been signed.
When asked, "Do you still wish to deepen this relationship with France? Would it be a good partner?", the Argentine president replied, "Indeed, France is one of the countries that invests the most in Argentina. It seems to me, therefore, that this is a relationship that works very well." The good personal relationship between Emmanuel Macron and Javier Milei has enabled this close relationship between the two countries in the field of armaments, where Argentina has a long-standing relationship with France (Super-Etendard, Mirage, Exocet missiles...). /deepl