The Government of Argentina has submitted a draft national budget for 2027 that also includes a planned purchase of new submarines and frigates for the Argentine Navy.
The draft budget indicated the equivalent of US$3.5 billion for the vessels' purchase. US$2.3 billion will be allocated for the purchase of three conventional submarines while the remaining US$1.2 billion will be earmarked for the acquisition of two multi-mission frigates.
If approved, the submarine acquisition would re-establish Argentina's submarine force, which was effectively dissolved with the loss of the TR-1700-class boat ARA San Juan and her entire crew on November 15, 2017. At the time of the tragedy, San Juan was the only operational submarine in Argentine Navy service.
San Juan's sister ARA Santa Cruz and the Type 209 boat ARA Salta are both inactive. Santa Cruz was undergoing a refit that was halted with San Juan's loss and was finally cancelled in 2020 while Salta is considered non-seaworthy and has been restricted to serving as a pierside training platform.
The Argentine Navy currently has no active warships officially designated as frigates, though the service's two Almirante Brown-class destroyers are variants of the MEKO 360 class frigates built by Blohm + Voss of Germany.
