Brazil has sought French assistance for its nearly three-decade-old nuclear submarine program, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said Jan. 28. The deal looks likely to include a new $600 million French Scorpene-class conventional patrol submarine, of which Chile recently acquired two. The potential assistance raises the question of what Brazil might use a nuclear submarine for — and whether this expenditure and its aircraft carrier investments lack strategic objectives. Recent oil and natural gas discoveries in the Tupi and Jupiter fields in the Santos Basin off the southern Brazilian coast promise new energy wealth for Brasilia. But they also increase the importance of coastal defenses, even though the fields' proximity to the Brazilian coast leaves them fairly accessible to land-based aircraft and smaller ships.