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The Navy of Brazil and the Itaguaí Marine Construction (ICN) - a company formed by the Brazilian company Odebrecht Defense and the French shipyard DCNS - agreed a change in the construction schedule of the first Brazilian submarine Scorpene class (S-BR), the "Riachuelo" (S40).

According to this adjustment, the vessel shall open sea trials around the month of July 2017, which will delay its delivery to the Navy's operating sector for the second quarter 2018.

In the final half of 2009, the General Directorate of the forecast of the Navy Material (DGMM) was that the SBR-1 was ready in 2015 (see story "Schedule of supplies of submarines and EC725 helicopters" , published by the Naval Power in September 3, 2009). Later, the Submarine Development Program (PROSUB) Navy had its modified deployment. The new forecast, the "Riachuelo", first of the four conventional submarines to be built, would be ready in 2016 and, after completion of dock tests and sea, would be delivered to MB in mid 2017.

According to the Naval Power can determine at that time the ICN and the Navy examine the development of an amendment to the construction contract of the submarines that specify the new manufacturing schedule SBR-1, because it involves several changes in deadlines, both for technical targets to be achieved, as the result of financial disbursements.

The expectation on the operation of the ship is, however, a very positive level.

One of the points that draws the attention of Brazilian concerns remedies adopted by designers and French manufacturers, to ensure a standard of quiet operation of the ship.

It must be said that were found technical resources capable of reducing vibration and sound produced naturally by the submarine in its displacement. A set of devices that extends from the work of special shims of pipes attached to the inner walls of the boat, suitable to eject fatty flows.

Protect 8500 km of coastline and hidden riches under the sea, as the reserves of the pre-salt and minerals from Blue Amazon. With this goal, advances in building Brazil's first five submarines, one of them with nuclear propulsion, in partnership with France.

"Brazil holds riches that are in our beautiful sea. It is our responsibility to have a strong armed force. Not to make war, but not to go to war. Not to try to take our wealth. The nuclear submarine is one of the weapons most likely to deterrence, "he said in an interview with AFP the admiral of the fleet Gilberto Roffé Max Hirschfeld, general coordinator of Prosub, submarine development program, estimated to cost in U.S. $ 23 billion (about U.S. $ 10 billion).

The new submarines will replace the five conventional that Brazil currently has, built between 1980 and 1990, in partnership with Germany, and that are at the end of its life.

In Itaguai, 70 km south of Rio de Janeiro, is the complex of 540 thousand square meters where the Brazilian contractor Odebrecht, the French state-owned DCNS Defense and the Navy of Brazil work together to meet a schedule that extends to 2025.

In the factory, the first conventional submarine (SBR1), planned for launch to sea in 2017, is 45% complete, and the second (planned for 2019) begins to be built. The rest will be completed every 18 months.

The dimensions of the complex are impressive: at the factory, with 38 meters high, laborers work in large steel plates, which together form the sturdy hull of conventional submarines ready, will be 75 feet long and weigh 2,000 tons.

A few yards away, 3,000 people work at a fast pace to lift the shipyard, scheduled to open in November, where sections of the submarines will be assembled.

The infrastructure will also have a yard maintenance, a naval base and a radiological complex, where the exchange of nuclear fuel will be taken.

The nuclear submarine (SNBR), 100 feet long and 6,000 tons, will begin construction in 2017 and will be released in 2025.

Currently, only five countries design and build nuclear submarines: China, UK, U.S., Russia and France.

Conventional submarines have restrictions such as diesel-electric engine, which forces them to go to the surface every 12 hours or 24 hours to charge the batteries and change the air breathed in the cabin.

More expensive, nuclear propulsion are faster and do not need to come out, because they use atomic energy, supply practically inexhaustible, to move their engines, and breathed air is purified by a chemical compound.