Brazil launches frigate Cunha Moreira: the third Tamandaré-class ship in the water at Itajaí

The Brazilian Navy has launched the frigate Cunha Moreira, the third of four Tamandaré-class ships, built on the German MEKO A-100 design. The ceremony took place at the shipyard in Itajaí, in the country's south. For Brazil it marks another stage in the largest renewal of its surface fleet in decades, and a symbol of the rebuilding of its domestic shipbuilding industry.

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27 june 2026   |   13:09   |   Source: Gazeta Morska   |   Prepared by: Kamil Kusier   |   Print

fot. Marinha do Brasil

A launch is the moment a hull first touches the water. It is not the same as entering service, which is still preceded by months of trials at the quay and at sea. As the Brazilian Navy stressed in its statement, every stage of the Tamandaré-class Frigates Programme represents technological development, new jobs, the building of a deterrent capability and a strengthening of national sovereignty. Cunha Moreira (pennant F202) is due to be commissioned in 2028.

Third of four

The programme's first batch covers the construction of four multi-role frigates. The lead ship, Tamandaré (F200), was launched in August 2024 and entered service on 24 April 2026, the first ship of the class and, as was emphasised in Brazil, the first warship built on Brazilian soil in 46 years. The second frigate, Jerônimo de Albuquerque (F201), took to the water in August 2025 and is preparing for sea trials. Cunha Moreira has now joined them. Construction of the fourth and final ship of the first batch, Mariz e Barros (F203), began in early 2026. All four are being built in parallel, in what the yard calls the programme's production peak. Deliveries are scheduled through 2029.

The ships carry names honouring figures from Brazilian naval history. The class itself commemorates the nineteenth-century admiral the Marquis of Tamandaré (Joaquim Marques Lisboa), patron of the Brazilian fleet.

German design, Brazilian shipyard

At the heart of the effort is its industrial model. The frigates are based on the proven German MEKO A-100 design (in a variant designated MEKO A-100MB), known for its modularity, reduced-signature features and configuration flexibility. They are being built at the thyssenkrupp Estaleiro Brasil Sul shipyard in Itajaí, in the state of Santa Catarina, by the Águas Azuis consortium, which pairs Germany's thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) with Brazilian firms Embraer Defense & Security and the software house Atech. The contract for the first batch was awarded in March 2020 by the state-owned company EMGEPRON. Tellingly, TKMS bought the Itajaí yard specifically to execute this work, its first shipyard in Latin America.

The key to the whole undertaking is technology transfer and the building of domestic competencies. Brazil deliberately chose not to buy finished ships abroad but to build them at home, drawing on foreign know-how while qualifying its own workforce and supply chain. Local content rises from ship to ship, from about 31.6% on the first vessel to an average of around 41% on the others, and the effort is expected to generate up to 6,000 jobs. It is a strategy meant not only to strengthen the fleet but also to rebuild Brazil's defence industrial base.

What the Tamandaré frigates can do

The Tamandaré-class ships are vessels around 107 metres long, with a beam of about 16 metres and a displacement of roughly 3,500 tonnes, a top speed of about 25.5 knots, a crew of around 130 and a flight deck and hangar for a helicopter (and an unmanned air system). Despite their "light" category, the frigates carry a full weapons package: a vertical launching system (VLS) for Sea Ceptor air-defence missiles, Brazilian MANSUP anti-ship missiles, an Oto Melara 76 mm Super Rapid gun, a close-in weapon system and triple launchers for Mk 54 lightweight anti-submarine torpedoes. The ship's "eyes" and "ears" include a Hensoldt TRS-4D AESA radar and an Atlas sonar, both to NATO standard.

The frigates' main task is to be the protection of the so-called Blue Amazon (Amazônia Azul), a vast Brazilian maritime zone of more than 5.7 million square kilometres, comparable in area to the land Amazon, which holds most of the country's offshore oil and gas reserves. That makes the effort an element not only of defence but also of the energy security of one of the world's leading commodity exporters.

From four to eight

The effort has just entered an expansion phase. At the commissioning of the first frigate, on 24 April 2026, Brazil's Ministry of Defence signed a memorandum with the Águas Azuis consortium opening the way to building a second batch of four further ships, with an estimated value of around US$2 billion. Those plans had been announced earlier in public by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in Hannover, on the margins of celebrations marking the entry into force of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement and a meeting with the German chancellor. Carrying them out would double the fleet from four to eight frigates, making it the largest renewal of Brazil's surface fleet in decades.

The same idea as in Gdynia

For a Polish, and European, reader the Brazilian effort sounds strikingly familiar. The pattern is almost a twin of the Miecznik programme under way in Gdynia: in both cases there is a proven foreign frigate design, construction on home soil, technology transfer from an overseas partner, and a clear emphasis on developing the domestic defence industry and local content. What differs is the base design. Brazil chose the German MEKO A-100 from TKMS, Poland the British Arrowhead 140 from Babcock. The acquisition philosophy, however, is the same. In both cases the foreign partner also plays the role of teacher, passing on know-how and training the local shipyard workforce.

Tamandaré versus Miecznik: where they differ

For all the similarity of the model, the differences between the ships themselves are significant. Tamandaré is a light frigate: around 107 metres long and 3,500 tonnes. Poland's Miecznik is a full-size vessel, around 138 metres long, 20 metres in beam and with a maximum displacement of roughly 7,000 tonnes, making it about twice as heavy. It is a different category of ship, albeit with a similar multi-role purpose.

The numerical scale differs too. Brazil is building four frigates in the first batch, with the April memorandum opening the way to eight. Poland is building three: Wicher, Burza and Huragan. Tellingly, the two efforts share a common denominator in armament, since both Tamandaré and the Miecznik ships are to use air-defence missiles from the CAMM family (known in the Brazilian variant as Sea Ceptor, and in the Polish one also including the longer-range CAMM-ER).

Comparing the values is harder, given the different signing dates, exchange rates and differing scope of the packages. As a rough guide: the 2020 Brazilian contract for the first four frigates was worth around 9.1 billion Brazilian reals, on the order of €2 billion at the time, while Poland's Miecznik, after amendments in 2023, is valued at around 15.4 billion złoty, on the order of €3.5 billion for three much larger ships. The difference in unit price is explained in large part precisely by the size and fit-out of the Polish frigates.

The most interesting difference, however, is in pace. Brazil is clearly further along today, with its first frigate already in service (since April 2026) and three more hulls in the water. The Polish programme is one stage behind. Wicher remains under construction, its launch planned for August 2026 and its entry into service for 2029. Brazil's Cunha Moreira and Gdynia's Wicher, though separated by the Atlantic and built to different designs, are therefore children of the same era, and of the same idea of building a modern fleet with one's own industry.

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fregata Cunha Moreira klasa Tamandaré Marynarka Wojenna Brazylii MEKO A-100 przemysł stoczniowy

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