Brazil Picks German Warships Over BRICS, Doubling Its Stealth Frigate Fleet

Brazil plans to expand its fleet of domestically built Tamandaré-class frigates through additional cooperation with Germany, increasing the total number of vessels to eight.

According to Defense Express on April 21, Brazil has agreed to deepen defense-industrial cooperation with Germany and intends to order four more Tamandaré-class frigates on top of the four already under construction.

The ships are being built in Brazil through the Águas Azuis consortium, which includes Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) alongside Brazilian companies Embraer and Atech.

Construction of the initial batch is already underway, with three of the first four vessels currently in production at a Brazilian shipyard. The lead ship is nearing completion and is expected to enter service in the near term.

The second vessel was launched in 2025 and is scheduled for delivery in 2027, while the remaining ships from the first batch are expected to be commissioned between 2027 and 2028. The outlet notes that the additional four ships are likely to be delivered toward the end of the decade or in the early 2030s.

The Tamandaré-class frigates are designed as compact, multi-role warships with stealth features, based on Germany’s MEKO modular platform. Each vessel measures approximately 107 meters in length with a displacement of around 3,500 tons. The ships are equipped to perform air defense, anti-ship, and anti-submarine warfare missions.

Their armament includes a Sea Ceptor (CAMM) air defense system with 12 vertical launch cells, eight Brazilian-developed MANSUP anti-ship missiles, and two triple torpedo launchers for Mark 54 torpedoes.

Gun systems include a 76 mm Oto Melara Super Rapid naval gun and a 30 mm Sea Snake system, as reported by Defense Express. The vessels are also fitted with the TRS-4D radar, a naval variant of the TRML-4D system currently supplied to Ukraine, capable of tracking up to 1,000 targets at distances of up to 250 kilometers.

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World

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Brazil is a member of BRICS, an intergovernmental grouping of major emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Indonesia. The bloc was originally formed to expand economic and political coordination among Global South countries and increase their influence in global governance.

Despite Russia’s role as one of its founding members, defense procurement decisions within BRICS remain decentralized, with countries such as Brazil continuing to pursue partnerships with European defense manufacturers.

Earlier, Germany overtook China to become the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter in the 2021–2025 period, while Russia’s exports dropped by 64%, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, reflecting a broader shift toward European and Western defense suppliers.

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