Argentina wants to buy 3 Scorpene Evolved submarines from France's Naval Group. However, due to financing problems, it wants to pay for this with a loan, guarantees for which France itself must provide.
Naval Group's regional sales director Laurent Mur told Infobae about this. According to him, the Argentine government allocated $2.31 billion in the 2025 budget for restoring submarine capabilities, but cannot pay for them independently.
Read more: Ukraine to Receive Polish Weapons, While EU-Funded Ukrainian Drone Production Expands in Poland
The question was also raised of where the submarines will be built, as it could be France, Brazil, or local facilities. The latter could give a new boost to industry, but requires millions of dollars in investment to obtain the capability to carry out such work, and the time from project start to delivery of the first sample will reach 10 years.
Naval Group emphasizes that they are ready to cooperate, but financing already depends not on them, but on France as a country. It's also noted that they are not the only ones willing to work with Argentina, so they won't reveal the price, but don’t name other competitors either.
Defense Express notes that loans for purchasing weapons and military equipment are typical practice that helps acquire appropriate capabilities faster. Poland bought K2 tanks, K9 howitzers, AH-64E Apache helicopters this way, and Ukraine bought French helicopters from Airbus.
However, the question arises whether the French will agree to finance localization in Argentina. Usually loans are given by a country partly as an element of supporting the local defense industry and preserving its capabilities.
On the other hand, Naval Group lost in the recent submarine tender in Poland, where Sweden's Saab A26 won, and also lost contracts in Australia, where it was canceled, or the Philippines, where procurement was postponed until 2030. So perhaps France will agree to finance the new deal to preserve industry.
Regarding Scorpene Evolved, this is the latest iteration of the Scorpene class, currently operated in Brazil, India, Malaysia, and Chile. It has a diesel-electric power plant, range over 8 thousand nautical miles, autonomy up to 80 days, and maximum speed up to 20 knots underwater and 12 knots on the surface.
Read more: Australia Weighs Transferring Problem-Plagued Tiger Attack Helicopters to Ukraine After Scrapping Taipan Fleet
