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.