Brazil shortlists four bidders for Tamandare corvette project

The Brazilian Navy has shortlisted four teams to advance to the next phase of the tendering process for the construction of its new Tamandare-class corvettes.

The shortlist was originally expected to be announced by August with a final decision on the winning consortium coming two months later. This means the final decision can now be expected to be made by December this year, but the navy did not provide further information on the delay.

In a document, released October 15, the navy identified ÁGUAS AZUIS, Damen Saab Tamandaré, FLV and VILLEGAGNON as the four downselected teams.

ÁGUAS AZUIS is composed of Brazil’s ATECH Negócios em Tecnologias S.A and Еmbraer SA, and Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems GmbH; Europe-based Damen and Saab have partnered with CONSUB Defesa e Tecnologia S.A to form the Damen Saab Tamandaré consortium; FLV represents an acronym of the three-company team of Fincantieri, Leonardo and Vard. VILLEGAGNON is a consortium spearheaded by France’s Naval Group.

The downselect comes ten months after the navy issued a request for proposals for the construction of four Tamandaré-class corvettes in December 2017. The RFP states that the ships are to be built in Brazil, or with great involvement of the Brazilian industry, in collaboration with a foreign shipbuilder.

The corvettes are expected to measure about 103 meters in length and displace up to 2,790 tons. Brazil intends to equip the ships with MBDA’s SeaCeptor air defense missile system which was selected for this purpose by the country in 2014.