S-80 Plus: Most Capable and Revolutionary Submarine

SPAIn, Like India, IS a country with a huge maritime tradition. All Spanish navy submarines have been built by navantia, a state-owned company, who currently is in charge of the design and construction of four non-nuclear attack submarines for the Spanish navy, the S-80 plus.

Previously, navantia was co-designer and builder of Scorpene class submarines for the Chilean and Malaysian navies, and also participated in the design and transfer of technology of India’s six Scorpene submarines, built in MDL (Mumbai), deploying a resident team to India between 2006 and 2013.

The S-80 plus submarine is an oceanic high-range 3,000 tonne non-nuclear submarine enhanced with anaerobic Air Independent Propulsion (AIP). The submarine design has been made by navantia with the support of Electric Boat, the primary builder of submarines for the United States navy for more than 100 years. The AIP system has been developed by Collins Aerospace, which is also a major supplier to international Nasa space programmes, Tecnicas Reunidas and Abengoa of Spain.

The S-80 plus submarines will have performance in ocean-going force projection and “blue water” warfare scenarios only available in current nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN), including a threeweek anaerobic range and the ability to fire submerged land-attack cruise missiles. This new concept in a conventional Submarine brings an excellent capability in covert operations and first strike. In particular it excels in stealth and littoral water performance, including bottoming and discrete transit and insertion in negated waters

The S-80 plus features a leading-edge AIP system based on a Bio-Ethanol processor, therefore avoiding exotic or highly processed consumables. Bio-Ethanol availability is immediate at almost any country, while medical grade Liquid Oxygen is a common supply for hospitals. The output of the bio-ethanol reactor feeds a series of state-of-the-art fuel cells developed specifically for this project.

The S-80 plus construction programme progresses smoothly. The first unit will be afloat in October 2020, entering into service in 2022. The design is nowadays being proposed for international programmes in holland and India.

Once in operation, the S-80 plus will be the most capable and revolutionary submarine of its class.