A freighter navigating Chile's scenic coastal waters
Courtesy Embassy of Chile, Washington

Naval Docks and Yards (Astilleros y Maestranzas de la Armada-- Asmar) was established in 1895, with facilities at Talcahuano and Valparaíso. Asmar was reorganized on a commercial basis in 1960. In early 1992, Asmar Talcahuano accounted for about 80 percent of the activities of the corporation, despite the recent upgrading of repair facilities at Valparaíso and the inauguration of smaller ship repair maintenance facilities at Punta Arenas (the latter operated in collaboration with Sandok Austral of South Africa). With more than 4,500 employees, Asmar Talcahuano has become the largest and most modern shipyard on the Pacific Coast south of California. It has carried out repair and maintenance work for three foreign navies, in addition to its work for the Chilean Navy and Merchant Marine. Asmar has also performed contract work on units of the merchant fleets of such countries as Canada and Denmark.

Over the years, Asmar has built a number of minor vessels for the Chilean Navy and Coast Guard. Extensive modifications were also made to the four County-class missile destroyers purchased from Britain in the early 1980s. A combination of economic difficulties and the ready availability of suitable craft on the secondhand market had, however, prevented the construction of either a projected series of fifty-four-meter patrol craft, for which a license was obtained from Fairey Brooke Marine of Britain in 1988, or the P-400-type fast attack craft, for which a license agreement was negotiated with Chantiers de Normandie in the same year. A project to build at least four submarines was announced in 1990 but had not progressed any further. However, Asmar displayed a humantorpedo -type midget submarine, developed in association with Cosmos of Livorno, Italy, at FIDAE '92.

In early 1992, Asmar's Talcahuano facility was building four patrol boats for the navy, the first of which was scheduled to be in service in 1993. Asmar was also preparing a program for four helicopter-equipped offshore patrol vessels to police Chile's 200- nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

In addition to its own independent electronics division, Military Manufacturers (Fabricaciones Militares--Fabmil), founded in 1982, Asmar has also established (in 1983) an electronics manufacturing and development subsidiary, Defense Systems (Sistemas Defensas--Sisdef), located in Viña del Mar. This firm, a joint venture with Britain's Feranti International, has developed a multipurpose radar system that is equally adaptable to use aboard ship or on land. Asmar itself has produced a naval gunnery control radar, which was fitted aboard the Almirante-class destroyers and other vessels of the Chilean Navy, a mortar-locating radar for the army, and a land-based air early warning radar. A newer shipyard, founded in 1974 with its facilities located at the mouth of the Río Valdivia in southern Chile, is Naval Shipyards and Services (Astilleros y Servicios Nav13a avales--Asenav).

Data as of March 1994