The Damen Saab Tamandaré consortium has strong confidence in the country and aims to establish a solid and long-term partnership with Brazil. The proposal presented by the Consortium to the Brazilian Navy contemplates a broad programme of transfer of technology, with partnerships and strengthening of local companies, benefiting the Brazilian defence sector. According to the schedule established by the companies, the first two modules, 3 and 5, of the 1st corvette will be built at the Damen shipyard in the Netherlands, while the other modules, 1, 2, 4 and 6, will be built at the Wilson Sons shipyard, in Guarujá, São Paulo coast, Brazil.
At this stage, Brazilian engineers and technicians will be able to acquire knowledge, locally, during a training that, according to the schedule, should last from 3 to 6 months. By the time they return to Brazil, these professionals will have acquired enough knowledge to promote the transfer of technology to the local industries and, from this will be developed in Brazil all modules, from the 2nd to 4th corvette.
Another objective of the Consortium is to acquire as much local content as possible with regard to suppliers of materials and services. In order to expand the partnership with new local companies, the Consortium has promoted meetings with Brazilian industries to present the Corvettes project and map possible suppliers.
One of the differentials of the proposal presented by the Damen Saab Tamandaré Consortium is its chain of partners, which will enable a reduced learning curve in relation to the project processes. That happens because the Consortium companies already have a long history of mutual partnerships in Brazil and in the world. For example, Damen and Wilson Sons Estaleiros (Shipyards) have almost 30 years of partnership and have worked together on more than 90 projects; the Brazilian company CONSUB has been working with the Brazilian Navy for more than 20 years; also, the Brazilian company WEG which together with Wilson Sons have been developing projects in partnership for more than 10 years.
Other Brazilian companies such as Akaer, Opto Eletrônica and Atmos Sistemas, which are part of the Damen Saab Tamandaré Consortium, are already working in partnership with Saab to develop the Brazilian Gripen Programme.