Submarinos Nucleares de Ataque (SNA) - Schedule
From the first, in 1979, until around the early 1990s, the Navy Nuclear Program relied on the contribution of additional resources to the budget of the force, from other government sources, that allowed the fuel cycle, achieved in the late 1980. From there, the program was funded, virtually, with only budget resources of the Navy of Brazil (MB), which, in addition to declining, must meet all other requirements of the force. The solution shown to completion of this program is its transformation into a National Program, and not just the Navy, ensuring the additional, regular and continued contribution of resources able to cope with the needs of a project of this nature.
At the same time where construction of the "Tupi" submarines class, Brazil spent more US$405 million, from 1979 the 1991, in the development of the project of the nuclear submarine. Of this total, US$180 millions had been expenses with the development of the fuel cycle and US$225 millions with the development of the reactor and its components. The SNAC-II (first Brazilian nuclear submarine), must displace between 2,900/3,500 tons submerged, be about 70 meters long, a diameter of at least 8 meters, will possess a PWR reactor of 48 MegaWatts and will be able to sail 28 knots. It will have similar characteristics to the French class Rubis/Amétysthe or the British Trafalgar.
As minister of navy under Collor de Mello, who became president in 1990, Mário César Flores, gave the development of nuclear propulsion for Brazil's submarines the highest priority. The Brazilian Navy hoped to finally move forward with this program due its high priority and prestige associated with it. Planning called for a contract design by 2006 and a construction contract by 2009. The first unit of the class will be a conventionally powered variant under the Tikuna SNAC-1 program - in order to test the hull concept prior to installing the nuclear reactors on units two and three. The first nuclear unit of the three-ship class would commission in 2018.
Because of the slow rhythm of investments, the Brazilian nuclear submarine could be ready of sea in the 2015-2020 time frame. Until then, it was expected that the sensors and the armament already entirely are nationalized. The project of the hull already was in progress, but the reactor alone would have to be ready in year 2005, a year which came and went. The total of the investments, without including the price of the first submarine will have to cost US$1.2 Billion. The MB has already spent about US$900 million, having still to be expenses more US$120 million for the conclusion of reactors PWR.
The cost of each sub nuclear was estimated to be about US$350/400 million dollar, without counting the expense of the development of the SNA. Had the fall of the military budgets, the total of the costs of the project comes being banked exclusively for the budget of the Navy of Brazil, that it invests about US$26 million per year, was estimated that reactor RENAP 50 (in truth 48) MegaWatts, together with the propulsion system (INAP), would be concluded between 2007 and 2011.
The initial forecast for the completion of the construction of the nuclear powered submarine was 2023, if there was no shortage of money and there are no serious technical problems. It was an ambitious timetable for a complex project, with success that would also depend on the advice of French engineers, whose participation is limited in the scope of the contract, which corresponds to the deadline for completion of the nuclear submarine. The electronic assembly, the loading of the compact reactor and the sea tests should consume, perhaps, two more years, with the entry into service of the first submarine in 2025. In 2017 the Navy changed the delivery schedule of the SN- BR for 2027 and, taking into account the test deadlines, the effective entry into operation should be at the end of the decade of 2020. The Navy's long-term planning contemplates a fleet of six SN-BR nuclear submarines, which will be added to the 15 conventional S-BR.
In December 2008 an agreement was signed between the governments of Brazil and France aimed at preparing the Submarine Development Program for the Navy of Brazil. Through this agreement, is set to build four new conventionally powered submarines, derived from the model "Scorpene" the SBR, plus one nuclear-powered submarine, the SNBR. The agreement provides for the construction of the first Brazilian nuclear-powered submarine, designated as SNBR. DCNS will assist the MB in the design and construction of "non-nuclear parts" of the first unit, which will come into operation in the years 2025 and 2030.
The Navy of Brazil will receive the first nuclear submarine of its own construction not earlier than 2029. This was stated by Commander of the Navy of the Republic Admiral Eduardo Bacellar Lil Ferreira, according to the local edition of Poder Naval in June 2018. Initially, the first Brazilian nuclear submarine was expected to receive in 2023. Accordingly, the timing of the preparation of some of the coastal infrastructure facilities for basing future Brazilian nuclear submarines has shifted to the right. Docks for them are planned to be completed after 2021. Earlier in February 2018, Ferreira reported on the start of the development of the technical project of the nuclear submarine.
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