French sub History
In the 1980s France began studies for the replacement of their
S-60 Daphné class diesel submarines. The French shipyard DCNI came up with an all-new design called S-80, with a
teardrop hull and new weapons and sensors, which their government decided not to fund.
[7]
DCNI then proposed a cheaper option called the S-90B, an
S-70Agosta class submarine with limited improvements which was again rejected by the French but which was exported to Pakistan.
[7]
Meanwhile Spain faced the same problem in replacing their
Daphnés, known as the
Delfín class in Spanish service, as part of Plan ALTAMAR. Bazán (later Izar, and then Navantia) started on a new design but when it started to look like the S-80, it was agreed to collaborate in a joint venture based on the French S-80.
[7] This joint design was shown at
Le Bourget Navale in October 1990.
[7]
The end of the Cold War meant that funding dried up and the joint venture had to wait until 1997 for their first sale - to Chile - of the new design,
[8] which was designated the
Scorpène class in export markets. The same year Spain started to look again at its requirements, and in 1998 they indicated that they would buy four
Scorpènes,
[7] optionally with an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system for greater endurance when submerged. A staff requirement for the S-80 Scorpène variant was completed in October 2001.
[9] This was soon overtaken by events, as the Armada became more interested in using submarines for power projection than in a more static, defensive role.
[9] This shift was codified in guidance of January 2002 from the Chief of Naval Operations and in the strategic defence review of February 2003.
[9]
The new requirement called for a larger submarine with better endurance and land-attack missiles, which became known as the S-80A design. This was an AIP submarine with a hull diameter of 7.3 metres (24 ft) compared to 6.2 metres (20 ft) for the Scorpène family, a submerged displacement of around 2,400 tonnes versus 1,740 tonnes, larger rudder surfaces and a different fin position.
[9]
The Spanish government approved the purchase of four S-80A submarines in September 2003 and signed a contract with Izar on 24 March 2004.
[10] The original deal was €1,756m to design and build four submarines,
[10]about US$550m per boat, but by 2010 this had increased to €2,212m
[11] (US$700m/boat). The plan envisaged the first boat to be delivered in 2011 but government dithering over who should supply the combat system pushed it back to 2013.
[9] In 2011 Spain's budget crisis further delayed the first delivery until 2015, with the remaining boats being delivered at one year intervals until 2018.
[12]
Construction of S-81 began on 13 December 2007.
[13] In January 2012 the names were announced, honouring three engineers who made submarines and the first commander of Spain's submarine force respectively -
Isaac Peral (S-81),
Narciso Monturiol (S-82),
Cosme García (S-83) and
Mateo García de los Reyes (S-84).
[14]
In May 2013, Navantia announced that a serious weight imbalance design flaw had been identified which will delay the delivery of the first submarine to the Spanish Navy until possibly 2017.
[15] Excess weight of 75 - 100 tons has been added to the sub during construction and the current design is not able to resurface after diving.
[16][17] A former Spanish official says the problem can be traced to a miscalculation — someone apparently put a decimal point in the wrong place or by the addition of new technologic devices.
[18] Lengthening the submarine would create additional
buoyancy, though at a cost of €7.5m per metre.
[16] With the project also suffering with an underperforming AIP system (which was to allow the submarine to stay underway for 28 days but was only managing 21 days) the Spanish Defence Ministry announced in June 2013 that Navantia has signed on the US company
General Dynamics Electric Boat to help solve the excess weight.
[19] In September 2014, the detected overweight was reported to have been resolved and the construction work to be ready to resume in late October 2014.
[20] In November 2014, Navantia again reported having completed the redesign work to address the problem of overweight. In all, the hull will be lengthened by seven metres, and the displacement increased by 75 tons. The intended delivery date of the first submarine is 2018.
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What you should know the S80 program
By Cesar Pintado - Atenea.digital
Far from being an advanced derivative of the French Scorpène, the S-80 Spaniards are far ahead of the last submarine diesel-electric propulsion. For example, compared to the AIP (Air Independent Propulsion) Classic, the advantage of S-80 is its propulsion technology: does not depend on hydrogen, bioethanol used as fuel and also has a fuel cell that does not need a hydrogen 100% pure.
The idea is to convert the Navantia shipyard in Cartagena in an international leader in the design and construction of submarine AIP propulsion, and it is getting. The navies of Australia, Norway and India are already interested in the S-80. A potential of up to 30 units, you can not miss, but more on that demand.
The development of the S-80 began over three decades ago when the first preliminary studies (1982-1991) began to be realized. They clearly saw the need to separate the draft platform combat system.For propulsion is even considered the possibility of providing the submarine with a nuclear reactor low power, although that option was soon discarded.
In the late 90s and early 2000s, the definition of the program was conducted. In the second quarter of 1997, the S-80 program with the beginning of the conceptual phase of the project is restarted. The feasibility study is carried out throughout 1998 and the first quarter of 2000 are now available in the "Basic Project Ship". The following year the operational requirements of the new submarines are updated and throughout 2003 the necessary documentation for the development and construction phase develops. The order of execution of the first four submarines of the series was signed in March 2004.
At the end of the S-80 program was conceived as two separate projects but integrated, first platform, Navantia responsibility, and secondly the combat system with Lockheed Martin and Navantia. The delays accumulated in the past two decades largely due to doubts and hesitations of the Navy, the shortage of budgets and changes in priorities.
Other causes were the selection of technology partners, changes in the project and the need they could launch cruise missiles.
So the consortium for the development and commercialization of a new submarine for export, participated equally between Navantia and DCNS was created. Over the years there were statements that pointed to the Scorpène could finally be the submarine S-80, but was delayed project itself forcing it to seek a more advanced product.
Finally, in early January 2004 the green light was given to four units.Although the first delivery was scheduled for 2011, various technical problems had to be delayed until 2015 and finally to 2016 or 2017 target with the current working after solving the latest technical problems identified, related to overweight and excessive size of its propulsion unit.
In principle, it is estimated that the construction period of the four units planned to ten years, invested in each sub 69 months followed by a testing period of 24 months for the first of the series, which is now the S-82- and 15 for the remaining time now possibly be shortened.
While S-80 are designed to perform missions diversified interests, remain classic submarine warfare, surface warfare, naval force protection, mining training offensive and surface ships, planes and helicopters in anti-submarine warfare. Another interesting facet constitute intelligence operations and surveillance.
Apart from this, it is considered a program of strategic importance because these ships equipped with cruise missiles, are important ground attack vector and an essential element of deterrence.
The
Agosta-class submarines are French diesel attack
submarines (SSKs) used by
Spain,
Pakistan and formerly by
France. The
French Navy grouped this model of submarine in their most capable class as an
océanique, meaning "ocean-going." A modernised version built for Pakistan, the Agosta 90B, has a crew of 36 plus 5 officers and can be equipped with the MESMA
air-independent propulsion (AIP) system.
The
Agosta 90B, also known as the
Khalid-class, is a modernised design built for the
Pakistan Navy. Various modifications give lower acoustic signature, lower diving depth, improved battery range and performance. Greater automation also allows the crew to be reduced from 54 to 36. The submarine can be armed with up to 16 torpedoes and
SM39 Exocetanti-ship missiles
SSK Agosta 90B Class Attack Submarine Information Pool
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