O NRP Arpão vai participar este mês na Operação SOPHIA da Força Naval da União Europeia para o Mediterrâneo, que tem como objetivo principal realizar esforços para evitar o tráfico de pessoas e impedir a perda de vidas humanas no mar.
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Moderador: Conselho de Moderação
TKMS to refit Portugal's attack submarines
Victor Barreira, Lisbon - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
19 October 2016
The Portuguese Ministry of National Defence (MoND) has authorised the country's navy to award Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) contracts not exceeding EUR47.99 million to refit Portugal's two Tridente class (Type 209PN) attack submarines
The first boat, NRP Tridente (S160), will be refitted in Germany 2016-2018, while TKMS and Portuguese state-owned shipyard Arsenal do Alfeite will co-operate to refit NRP Arpão (S161) locally in Portugal between 2018-2020. Systems Sunlight of Greece was also recently awarded a contract by the Portuguese Navy to replace the main batteries of the two Tridente-class boats.
The upgrade programme was laid out in Portugal's latest Military Programming Law, approved in May 2015. The refit work is principally a maintenance period, rather than an upgrade.
The submarines are scheduled to later undergo a mid-life upgrade between 2022 and 2025. This will include the updating of the boats' systems and has been valued at EUR106.12 million by the military programming law.