Tamandaré-class frigate

The Tamandaré class are a class of future stealth guided-missile frigates for the Brazilian Navy, based on the MEKO family of ships. The project is being developed by the Ministry of Defence and the Águas Azuis consortium, composed of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and Embraer Defense & Security. The construction of the four planned frigates started in 2022 and are scheduled to be delivered between 2024 and 2028.

History
The program was created in 2017 with the main purpose of replacing the Niterói-class frigate frigates in operation since 1975 and the Type 22s acquired second-hand from the UK in the 1990s.

Several companies from seventeen countries entered in the competition opened by the Ministry of Defence, offering different types of projects and offset packages. On 16 May 2017, the list of all participating companies was released.

On 15 October 2018, after more than a year of studies by the Directorate of Program Management of the Navy (DGePM) and the Naval Projects Management Company (EMGEPRON), the short-list of the finalist projects was released, the selected projects were:

On 28 March 2019, the winning project was presented, the Águas Azuis consortium led by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems with a project of the 3,500-ton MEKO A-100-class corvette. In April of the same year, the class was reassigned from corvette to frigate.

The contract of €2 billion, was signed between the Brazilian government and the winning consortium on 6 March 2020. The Brazilian Navy plans to order two more class frigates, extending the total to six boats.

In January 2021, ThyssenKrupp confirmed the acquisition of the Oceana shipyard in Itajaí, becoming the company's first shipyard in Latin America, with the objective of building the new Brazilian frigates, and future sales to other navies in the region.

The construction of the first frigate, Tamandaré (F200) started on 5 September 2022, with the second boat, Jerônimo de Albuquerque (F201), on 1 November 2023. The first boat, Tamandaré, is planned to be launched on August 2024.

Characteristics
The class was designed as multi-mission frigates, able to fulfill the anti-aircraft warfare role with surface-to-air missiles, anti-surface warfare with the Brazilian MANSUP missiles, and anti-submarine warfare.

The combat management system (CMS) and the integrated platform management system (IPMS), designed by Atech, a subsidiary of Embraer, are a version derived from the Atlas ANCS and L3 Mapps, exclusively designed to meet the Brazilian requirements.

The class will be the first globaly equipped with the Sea Snake, a new close-in weapon system of the German defense company Rheinmetall, armed with the KCE30 30 mm revolver cannon, with ABM (air burst ammunition) capability.

The MAGE Defensor suite responsible for the electronic warfare support measures (ESM), electronic countermeasure (ECM) and the electronic signals intelligence (ELINT) systems of the class, was developed by the Brazilian company Omnisys.

Several of the technologies used in the design, construction and the systems of the class, are the result of technology transfer agreements signed between the Brazilian government and the winning consortium.

Ships of the class
The names of the four boats were selected in 2014 to represent key people in the history of the Imperial Brazilian Navy:


 * Tamandaré, named after admiral Joaquim Marques Lisboa, the Marquis of Tamandaré, which served in the Brazilian War of Independence, Cisplatine War, Uruguayan War and the Paraguayan War. A national military hero, he stands as the patron of Brazilian Navy.
 * Jerônimo de Albuquerque, named after, a Brazilian born Portuguese nobleman, military leader, and colonial administrator of Captaincy of Pernambuco.
 * Cunha Moreira, named after admiral, he was Minister of War and fought in the Portuguese conquest of French Guiana.
 * Mariz e Barros, named after first lieutenant Antônio Carlos de Mariz e Barros, son of Joaquim José Inácio, the Viscount of Inhaúma. He was the captain of the ironclad Tamandaré in the Paraguayan War.

The first boat, Tamandaré, will be identified by the hull number F200, in reference to Brazil's 200 years of independence completed in 2022.

Italics indicate estimated date.