After the ARA San Juan: the government plans to return to Argentina a submarine for defense

Only three months after the discovery of the ARA San Juan at 900 meters deep, a lawsuit is underway and under the undeleted effects of the mourning of the 44 crews of the sunken ship in the South Atlantic, the government comes with the idea of ​​returning to the Argentine Navy a submarine for effective defense purposes for the conservation of national waters and its vast natural resources.

Properly speaking, it is more than just the recovery of a ship with a deterrent strategy and great maneuverability. For many Argentines, the return of a submarine will be a kind of internal liberation, catharsis or redefinition of a new stage in the recent tragic history of the navy.

Was the Navy's mourning cycle completed after the discovery and disaster that resulted in the collapse of the ARA San Juan? Is Argentina able to find a submarine for its defense in the South Atlantic? Is there political will and funds to recover your historic fleet? Who are those who could come back to realize the Argentine dream of having a submarine?

These and many other questions have been echoing for several months among Argentine sailors, naval offices, the Ministry of Defense or Casa Rosada, almost three months after the discovery of the ARA San Juan.

According to a survey that Infobae, In recent weeks, there are coincidences both in the government and in the military sector that the administration of Mauricio Macri deal with the recovery process of a submarine for Argentina.

For budgetary reasons, the initial idea that started working at the Ministry of Defense and the Tandanor Shipyard is that The process of repairing the half-life of ARA Santa Cruz is underway for one simple reason: it is the cheapest and fastest way for Argentina to dispose again from a submarine.

One of the main arguments is that since November 15, 2017, date of the sinking of the ARA San Juan, the Argentine Navy no longer has submarine at sea while most countries in the region have this type of deterrent vessels and tactical strategy. The Brazilian army has 5 submarines, Chile 4, Peru 6 and Colombia 2.

The ARA Santa Cruz has the same characteristics as the San Juan: they are clbad TR 1,700 and their deployment power at sea is the same.

The repair of this ship would cost about $ 20 million according to Infobae in Tandanor, the Department of Defense and the Navy. Some 250 million pesos have already been spent in the last four years as part of ARA Santa Cruz's repair, and there is little more work to be done compared to another viable alternative. economic.

At the same time, the last time the ARA Santa Cruz was at sea, it was in 2015 and it is a boat where trained sailors today would be familiar with this type of technology.

The purchase of a new submarine in another country is unthinkable for the government today, because it should not be less $ 250 million. There were already countries like Germany, the United States and France who had offered to sell a submarine to Argentina. But there were no answers or funds. Meanwhile, the full repair of the Santa Fe ARA would cost the state 200 million USD. Today, we could not continue this repair work for the Santa Fe, as they would also require outside help.

Defense Minister Oscar Aguad believes that budget progress could be made this year thanks to the half-life arrangement of the Santa Cruz submarine ARA. "Modernization can take two years and there is a political will to do so because the submarine is an irreplaceable tactical weapon for resource management in the South Atlantic," said an badistant minister.

From the Tandanor state corporation responsible for making half-life arrangements for submarines and repairing naval vessels, they badured Infobae which are in conditions conducive to the startup of the submarine ARA Santa Cruz so that Argentina has a fleet of these characteristics.

The Santa Cruz ARA is currently in the Tandanor shipyards in the expectation of their settlement and the release process could last two years. This will depend to a large extent on engine spares supplied by the Navy to the state shipyard. In addition, Tandanor must plan the repair of the submarine over time, since its 470 operators are working on the installation of more than 50 domestic and foreign vessels.

"The repair of ARA Santa Cruz is the most practical solution today for Argentina to have a dissident capacity submarine and a geopolitical issue. external, "he explained. Infobae the executive director of Tandanor Jorge Arosa. For this retired sailor who fought in the Falklands war, "Argentina should not do without a submarine because it could be inferior to the armed forces of the region".

As, Luis Riva, the Secretary for Investigation and Defense Production of the Ministry of Tandanor, FADEA and Infobae "Tandanor is able to complete the repair of the ARA Santa Cruz submarine, currently in the shipyards, at a cost of 700 million pesos, including several improvements and improvements.In two years, it could sail and this would be the fastest economic way for Argentina to again have a submarine ".

The 2019 Defense Budget contains suggestive data that includes an item for the repair of naval vessels. But in the Ministry of Defense clarified that it would not be to repair the Santa Cruz ARA since the granting of the accumulated expenses for the expense does not imply that the amount is released for this year .

However, in the navy, they agree on the need for Argentina to have a submarine as soon as possible. Officially, this force has maintained: "The submarine is a strategic vessel in itself, which decisively contributes to depriving the sea of ​​possible adversaries in the defense of the vital interests of the Nation, because of its unique characteristics. discrete operation ".

At the same time, the navy explained to Infobae "a submarine contributes to the control of maritime spaces, a country endowed with a sea of ​​the size and characteristics of our own requires appropriate means such as submarines." This vision dates back to the 1930s with the first incorporation of submarines into the country. he has doubts about the need for submarines to carry out the responsibilities that the country demands from him in the framework of the Nation's military instrument ".

Is there a capacity in Argentina for human resources and military strategy to deal with the maintenance of a submarine?

Of the Navy, make sure they have the human means to have a staff capable of handling three submarines at the same time and that there are currently agreements with Peru, Germany and Australia so that sailors continue to train to save time and refresh. But all has a limit: if, in the immediate future, Argentina fails to endow itself with a submarine at sea, knowledge and training could suffer because it is estimated that the formation of a submarine commander can take about 30 years.

For its part, Admiral Carlos Daniel Abbondanza, who is the director general of naval doctrine expressed at Infobae that "Argentina must have a submarine as it is a strategic weapon of deterrence and a discreet mobility in the sea".

Abbondanza agrees that the directives of the presidential decree issued last year to conduct an in-depth military reform include in its chapter on the South Atlantic "the order of a defensive attitude that will beyond a hypothesis of conflict with neighboring countries that is not present today.There is the presence of a submarine that would serve prior to an external threat.

Among the duties performed by the ARA San Juan and which were lost today because the Navy does not even have a new submarine at sea, they include: the ability of dissuasive patrols for the preservation of natural resources and defense against possible external threats.

It is clear that the Navy can now perform a minimum patrol in territorial waters since it has 6 corvettes, 4 destroyers, 3 scientific ships and four other patrol boats acquired in France. However, the Argentine sea is vast and the radius of influence of the navy in international waters exceeds twice the Argentine territory.