Brazil's developing nuclear program shows its increasing global prominence.
The National Defense Strategy the government of Brazil released on 17 December 2008 provides little plausible military justification for the recently accelerated nuclear-powered submarine project. 1 The document stresses that this traditionally peaceful country has no problems with its neighbors, acknowledging that it has been difficult, therefore, to find a rationale for building forces and training for defense. Brazil had not previously attempted to elaborate an explicit national defense strategy, so why does it need nuclear submarines? The answer is apparently more related to political and economic factors associated with grand strategy than to requirements of naval strategy.
