Submarino com propulsão nuclear brasileiro: características operacionais desejáveis

Abstract

The operational cha racteristics of the braz ilian nuclear powered submarine shall comply with the defense of the mightiness of the maritime interests of the Nation, mainly at the Economic Exclusive Zone and in the South Atlantic Ocean, as established in the Strategy of Nation al Defense. The s o - called Blue Amazon, maritime area that constitutes the Economic Exclusive Zone, named as such because its area is equivalent to the area of the Amazon itself, comprehends a diversity of biological and mineral resources. It is relevant t o notice that more than 90% of our oil comes from the sea and the remainder is extracted from a land strip close to the littoral. Besides, more than 95% of our external trade, about U$ 384 billion, according to consolidated data of the Balance of Trade of 2010, is done by sea. The b razilian naval strategic conception establishes the employment of submarines for all basic tasks of the Naval Power , i.e., the control of maritime area, negation of use of the sea, power projection upon land and contribution to d issuasion. The negation of the use of the sea that consists in jeopardizing the establishment of the control of a maritime area by the enemy or the exploration of that control is the task in which the submarine is unsurpassed, the nuclear powered, in speci al, due to its high mobility, autonomy and capacity of occultation. With these characteristics, the national nuclear submarine will be employed mainly in attack and antisubmarine operations. Secondarily, it can carry out surveillance, mining and special op erations. Thus, it shall be armed with torpedoes, missiles and mines. As the operational environment, the priority employment and the type of armament are established, this study has pointed out other relevant operational characteristics that result in the skills and competences required for the crew, configuration of systems and equipments, mainly the weapon systems, hull, external communications, nuclear power propulsion plant, emergency propulsion system, search and rescue system and those systems relate d to nuclear safety, useful life and nationalization. The Brazilian Navy Nuclear Program and the Program of S ubmarine Development , both currently underway, complement each other for developing the required technology for the project and construction of the first Brazilian nuclear powered submarine, to be incorporated to the Brazilian Navy by 2024.