Ciudad de Ensenada, the first of two cadet-training boats (Lanchas de Instrucción de Cadetes de la Armada: LICA), to be constructed by the Argentine shipyard Río Santiago, was launched on 18 October.
The design and construction of the vessels for the cadet school, Escuela Naval Militar, started in 2014, but it stopped in 2018 “when the administration at the time decided to suspend” the project, according to a 21 October press release by the defence ministry.
In August 2020 Argentine President Alberto Fernández assigned more than ARS100 million (USD1 million) from the national defence fund (Fondo Nacional de la Defensa: FONDEF) to finish the project, according to the Argentine Navy.
Ciudad de Ensenada has a length of 36 m, is powered by two Scania 405 kW (550 hp) motors, and can transport a crew of 40.
The construction of the LICA training boats is one of the few shipbuilding projects Río Santiago and the country's other shipyard, Tandanor, have for the navy. The other is a Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull ship for the Naval Hydrographic Service (Servicio de Hidrografía Naval), being built by Tandanor.
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