PROSUB Nuclear Submarine Program

The PROSUB program has two phases: Phase I built four conventional Scorpène-class submarines with French technology transfer (three delivered by December 2025, fourth launched). Phase II began in June 2025 with the first steel cut for Brazil's nuclear-powered submarine at the Itaguaí Naval Complex.

Brazil will enrich its own uranium fuel using domestically developed centrifuge technology — a capability shared by only a handful of countries. The nuclear submarine is designed for patrol and deterrence in the South Atlantic, protecting pre-salt oil fields and asserting sovereignty over Brazil's exclusive economic zone.

The program is decades behind schedule and over budget (originally planned for 2021 delivery), but the technology transfer model — building submarines in Brazil with progressively more domestic content — has created a shipbuilding industrial base that didn't exist before.