Argentina's Draft 2027 Budget Proposes $3.5 Billion for Three Submarines and Two Frigates

Argentina's draft 2027 national budget, submitted to Congress on September 15, 2026, authorizes government financing of up to US$2.3 billion for three conventional submarines and US$1.2 billion for two multimission frigates, Naval News reported. The combined US$3.5 billion line was also reported by MercoPress, Baird Maritime and the Rio Times, which described it as part of the budget presented by President Javier Milei's government.

The financing is structured as loans with a minimum amortization period of three years, according to MercoPress and Baird Maritime. Inclusion in the draft budget is an authorization to borrow rather than a signed contract, and Naval News noted that whether the program proceeds to an actual procurement will depend on Argentina securing external financing. None of the four outlets reported a signed agreement, a selected supplier or a delivery schedule.

If approved and financed, the submarine line would revive an arm of the Argentine Navy that has been effectively dormant since the TR-1700-class ARA San Juan was lost with all hands on November 15, 2017, a loss widely covered at the time by Reuters and the BBC. No Argentine submarine has been reported operational since.

GlobalMilitary.net's own inventory data for Argentina, current to 2026, records the country's entire submarine force as two hulls, both listed in reserve rather than active: the Type 209-class boat Salta, a German-designed submarine, and the TR-1700-class boat Santa Cruz, sister ship of the San Juan. By that count, Argentina currently operates zero submarines, and the three boats proposed in the draft budget would constitute the whole of a rebuilt fleet rather than an addition to an existing one.

The two multimission frigates covered by the US$1.2 billion line are described in the same terms by all four outlets, which did not report a chosen design. Naval News and the Rio Times both framed the two lines together as a US$3.5 billion naval recapitalization proposal.

The proposal is the latest in a series of Argentine defense moves reported this year. In August, the navy retired the Super Étendard for good, 44 years after the Falklands War. In early September, President Milei escalated the Falklands dispute with the United Kingdom, and on September 13 Argentina was cleared to buy four UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters from the United States. The submarine and frigate lines are the first of these developments to concern the surface and sub-surface fleet directly.

What happens next rests with Congress and with lenders. The 2027 budget remains a draft until it is debated and approved by the Argentine Congress, and MercoPress and Baird Maritime both reported the naval lines as authorizations rather than commitments. Even with the budget passed, Naval News reported that the program would proceed only if external financing is secured, so the earliest concrete milestone would be a financing agreement or a supplier selection, neither of which any of the four outlets said had been reached. Until then, Argentina's submarine force remains, on GlobalMilitary.net's figures, two reserve hulls and no boats at sea.