Macron wraps up South America trip with French submarines in mind

SANTIAGO, Chile — Traveling to attend the G20 Summit last week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, French President Emmanuel Macron extended his trip to South America and also visited Argentina and Chile, where he promoted the exports of French-made military equipment potentially worth over $4 billion.

The French daily La Tribune heralded, before Macron’s departure, that even when the stated purpose of the trip was to attend the G20 Summit and to reinforce ties and collaboration with Brazil, Argentina and Chile – France’s main trade partners in South America – the agenda also included advocating for sales of Scorpene type diesel-electric submarines developed by French ship builder Naval Group.

Macron flew first directly to Argentina, where he held meetings with President Javier Milei between Nov. 16 and 17. Local military sources, talking on condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations, told Defense News that Macron pledged his support for Argentina’s plans to procure three Scorpene boats, worth $1.5 billion.

The Argentine Navy badly needs the boats, as the service has no fully working submarines, sending its specialist submariners to Peru for training and to keep proficiency.

According to the local sources, Argentine Defense Minister Luis Petri signed a letter of intent for the purchase during a visit to Paris in October, kicking off negotiations over the particulars.

Meanwhile, the government has asked parliament for authorization, within the budget law for 2025, to take a multiyear loan of $ 2.31 billion. This amount is intended to include both the procurement price of the three submarines, as well as a debt service of $800 million, roughly 55% of the value of the boats.

After Buenos Aires, Macron flew to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for the G20 Summit, where he met the host, President Inazio “Lula” da Silva, to discuss a potential follow-on order for two additional Scorpene type boats.

Under a $10 billion deal agreed in 2009, Brazil ordered four submarines of the same type, a deal that is close to delivering all boats . The contract includes technology-transfer provisions, enabling the country to build components at home.

Brazil’s Scorpene type boats are locally built by Itaguai Construçoes Navais, jointly owned by the Brazilian government through Emgepron (59%) and Naval Group (41%), including a substantial number of components imported from France.

Finally, between Nov. 20 and Nov. 21 Macron also visited Chile, which was the first export customer of Scorpene submarines with an order for two boats in 1998. Chile is set to launch a tender in 2026, potentially worth $1 billion, aimed at replacing older, German-built submarines.

José Higuera is a Latin America correspondent for Defense News.

智利圣地亚哥——上周，法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙前往巴西里约热内卢参加二十国集团峰会，之后他延长了南美之行，并访问了阿根廷和智利，在那里他推动了法国制造的军事装备的出口，这些装备的潜在价值超过 40 亿美元。

在马克龙出发前，法国日报《论坛报》宣称，尽管此次访问的既定目的是参加二十国集团峰会，并加强与巴西、阿根廷和智利（法国在南美的主要贸易伙伴）的关系与合作，但议程还包括游说出售法国造船企业海军集团开发的鲉鱼级柴电潜艇。

马克龙首先直接飞往阿根廷，并于 11 月 16 日至 17 日与总统哈维尔·米莱举行了会晤。当地军方消息人士在匿名的情况下向《防务新闻》透露了内部讨论内容，称马克龙承诺支持阿根廷采购三艘价值 15 亿美元的“鲉鱼”级潜艇的计划。

阿根廷海军急需这些潜艇，因为该海军没有完全可用的潜艇，只能将专业潜艇兵派往秘鲁接受训练和保持技能。

据当地消息人士透露，阿根廷国防部长路易斯·佩特里在10月份访问巴黎期间签署了一份购买意向书，由此开启了有关细节的谈判。

与此同时，政府已向议会申请在2025年预算案中授权，申请一笔23.1亿美元的多年期贷款。这笔款项将包括三艘潜艇的采购价格，以及8亿美元的债务偿还，约占潜艇价值的55%。

在布宜诺斯艾利斯之后，马克龙飞往巴西里约热内卢参加二十国集团峰会，在那里他会见了东道主总统伊纳齐奥·“卢拉”·达席尔瓦，讨论了可能追加订购两艘鲉鱼级潜艇的可能性。

根据2009年达成的一项价值100亿美元的协议，巴西订购了四艘同类型潜艇，目前已接近全部交付。该合同包含技术转让条款，使巴西能够在国内制造相关部件。

巴西的鲉鱼级潜艇由巴西政府通过 Emgepron（59%）和法国海军集团（41%）共同拥有的 Itaguai Construçoes Navais 公司在当地建造，其中包括从法国进口的大量部件。

最后，在 11 月 20 日至 21 日期间，马克龙还访问了智利。智利是鲉鱼级潜艇的首个出口客户，于 1998 年订购了两艘。智利计划在 2026 年启动一项价值可能达 10 亿美元的招标，旨在替换老旧的德国制造潜艇。

何塞·伊格拉是《防务新闻》拉丁美洲记者。