Navantia military submarines heading towards energy are seeking Jupiter
propagandaThe global arms race reaches unattended levels From the end of the Cold War. On the current current conflicts, but fall into the background in terms of political actors, Military technology companies It competes for a piece of cake. Among them, with modest but increasing participation, is Spanish shipyard.
Distributed between three construction basins in historical ships (Carthane In southern Levante, surly In the high gallek and Cádiz In the Andalusian Atlantic Ocean, Navantia occupied in 2023 88th place Among the 100 most important war companies in the world, according to the International Institute for Peace Studies in Stockholm. This has improved his situation in the year 2022, when the Ukraine war erupted and was in the 94th place. Their income reached the manufacture of weapons 1083 million euros: 76.8 % of the total. The only Spanish acting in this arrangement is behind companies like Hanwha Group (South Korea), Sabab (Sweden), ST EnSingapore) About PGZ (Poland), In addition to much better military forces.
Navantia has a long trip in the cities of marine traditions, but it is affected by industrial conversion at the end of the last century, which is partially explained by it High unemployment rates. The functional situation in its molds in Ferrol, Cartagina or Cádiz Bay is largely dependent on the contracts that this company has achieved, which, as shown from SIPRI numbers, is born more than two -thirds of its income by building and selling weapons. There is the last bet of the company that plays its role to ensure at least one decade at the Cartaginira base: submarines S80 series and AIP system integration In it.
Battery depends on ethanol, water and hydrogen with a potential millionaire
The Iberian shipping company enables Spain to be among the only ten countries in the world with the ability to design and build submarines. Many of them focus, As in the case of the AUKUS Military Coalition (Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States), in an increase Nuclear submarine arsenal. Spanish defense has no ability or interest in developing this technology, so placing scenes in another type of weapon. Here the game enters the AIP system: shortening the English language for “Air Independent Propulls”, which was translated as “independent air pushing”.
This system allows some ships submerged for weeks No need to go to the surface to recharge the batteriesCompared to those who are pushed by diesel, which increases their independence and military interest. Commercially known as Best (biological ghost technology or vibrant Sigrilous technique), on the last chemical compound.
By mixing Biological and waterEasy Easy Elements, Achieved hydrogen After passing through a reformer: A device that causes a chemical reaction that is controlled to convert liquid fuel into a gas -rich gas. The element said, Along with mergingOxygenIt will feed the fuel battery that will provide submarine energy. The waste generated in this process, such as carbon dioxide, will be diluted at sea. Currently, the exact number of days in which these submarines can remain independently in the water is unknown.
During the presentations of this system in one of the S80 submarines, some army announced to the media that this AIP “was made in Spain” is a “revolutionary” or “indicator” system. Carlos Masterc RamirezDeputy Director of the Higher Technical School of Marine Engineering in Cartagina, which is located near the place where Navantia has evolved, shows this data. “There are some countries that do not have this technology, such as the great powers (the United States, Russia, China) because they have always focused on nuclear submarines. With AIPS mainly developing The Germans, the French, the Swedes What has always been pioneers in this regard JapaneseThe engineer also mentions the possibility of this South Korea and India They develop this technology.
Who can provide submarine bids with AIP?
This competition with at least four countries is not a simple issue for the future of Navantia, specifically, for the workforce around it 1,200 people From the headquarters of Cartagina. Her workers this week was manifested in this previous Phoenician settlement of their working conditions.
In mid -July 2024, Ministry of Defense forCanada He announced in a press statement planning to renew its naval fleet with 12 new submarines, ** more than a large tender. “It is a star contract The number of boats and the strategic importance of Canada, “summarizes a mask.
Specifically, Ottawa justified this expensive investment due to the latest military and geographical movements in the Arctic, With several eyes placed in their mining resourcesAnd the oil and their own Marine roads through the polar circle. “The Ministry of National Defense is currently working Meetings with manufacturers and potential partners (…) In the fall of 2024, an official request will be published to obtain information to obtain more information about acquisition, construction, delivery, delivery and operational for potential offers who can build submarines in Canada. “It will be one of the main requirements for the competition decision Sing up ships.
Canada was more transparent than usual in this offer, however There can be others at stake. “There are many competitions, what happens is that at first they usually ask the estimated authority (…) Navantia may compete (in other cases) and cannot be displayed, because the corresponding navy asks about it,” says the professor of the center dedicated to the University of Cartagena, where they study in the design of the submarine. The key to the military industry analyst is Arsenalis in other countries and in any course of its productive life To define possible competitions in Lisa.
Does Navantia have options to get this or other contracts?
“There are real possibilities,” said Massqurac. Do not forget that it is a weapon. There are commercial strategies behind: Canada will ask for a part of the submarine to have a Canadian signature In suppliers, work … then it is also important for companies to know how to adapt however. ”
The teacher explains that with regard to the technical standards that will tend to balance, the “signatures” will be evaluated: those material teachers that determine Sound, thermal, electromagnetic fingerprint of the submersible ship. These signatures should be small enough It cannot be discovered by other enemy forces. He says that Spain chose the ethanol biological, he says, that its main competitors have chosen other paths: Japan will implement More capacity batteries In his submarines and France, he would focus on a shift Hydrogen diesel; A new system was presented a year ago in an international exhibition.
Time, specifically, is the factor that plays against Navantia. The company announced the installation of the AIP system in the S83 Cosme García submarine on November 26. However, the shipping company had presented the Canadian competition with S81 ModelAnd it is in the final stage of development and is still not integrated. This means that Canada or other potential buyers will bet on a system It has not yet been installed and tested at sea.
“It is not the same thing to buy something I managed to check that something in the end is finally on paper,” says Mask. “Tests have been done on the ground: They already have a strategy how to present it (AIP) in the submarine, but there is no actual product. It cannot be proven that it is already working in a submarine (…) Now is what is punished for Navantia and EBAIN in international offers: International offers: International offers: International offers: International offers: International offers: International offers: The lack of the product“.
How much will ships reach under construction? “A submarine of this type can be placed in a very large fork between 500 and 1 billionThe specialist calculates. Appreciation from there will be the amount that will be ready to pay an external authority for them will be the practice of divination, although the Mascar indicates that their manufacture in the series, as will happen in the Canadian contract, will reduce its potential final cost. Felipe V, Military shipbuilding basins in the mid -nineteentIt will increase its location in the classification of its sector thanks to the new contracts, In a world in which defense investments are advanced by jumps and borders.
