NAVANTIA aims to have a collaboration with Turkısh Defence Industry
Navantia is the Spanish company that leads the ay in the military shipbuilding sector. By size and technological capability, it occupies a lea
Tarih: Issue 8 - January 2008
Defence Turkey: First of all, Could you please inform about your organization, history, mission
and vision of Navantia who has a leading role in shipbuilding with her capabilities? What are
your goals and strategies?
In March 2005, Navantia, the new Spanish military shipbuilder was unveiled. The company, 100% owned by the Spanish Government, is the
result of the segregation of Izar’s military
activities in line with the agreement reached with the European Union, in order to make publicly owned shipyards viable. However, Navantia inherits more than 250 years’ experience in the construction, maintenance and conversion of the Spanish Navy’s ships.
Currently, Navantia has strengthened the naval industry in Spain, and has consolidated its position in the world’s naval market, recovering the notoriety and prestige of naval construction.
Navantia’s main goal is that is one of the very few companies that has a complete capacity in design, development production, integration and integrated logistic platform support, propulsion
and naval combat systems as well as the ability to deliver fully operational vessels. Defence Turkey: It is seen that Navantia with her technological capability occupies a leading role
NAVANTIA aims to have a collaboration with Turkish Defence Industry Navantia is the Spanish company that leads the way in the military shipbuilding sector. By size and technological capability, it occupies a leading role in European and World-wide military shipbuilding. What are the activity line and core capabilities
of Navantia?
Navantia has strategically situated production centres in the Ferrol Estuary, the Cartagena shipyard and the Bay of Cádiz, specialized in New
Constructions, as well as Shiprepairs in the 3 areas. These shipyards are fully equipped
with slipways and docks with sufficient capacity to meet the Navy’s strategic requirements. Navantia also has two other lines of activity, propulsion and naval combat system, that complement the new constructions and give an integral service.
Defence Turkey: Within the scope of the contact signed in June 2002 between the Malaysian Government regarding the contruction of 2
Scorpene-Class submarines, the first Scorpene submarines wa built for the Malaysian Navy
recently. On the other hand you have been carring out a project with Indian Navy regarding the construction of 6 Scorpene submarines.
Could you please inform us the technical capabilities and technological competence
of Navantia submarines?
The two submarines for the Royal Malaysian Navy are being constructed at DCNS Cherbourg yard (SUBMARINE Nº 1) and NAVANTIA Cartagena
yard (SUBMARINE Nº 2). Both submarines have been assembled this year and the first one will be set afloat in October 07. In 2005, we have signed a contract with Mazagon Dock Limited
to deliver 6 submarines to the Indian Navy. This contract is manly a Transfer of Technology one.
The delivery of two submarines to the Scorpene Chile in 2005 and 2006, respectively, and the current contracts with the Royal Malaysian Navy and Indian Navy are a clear sign of the recognition of NAVANTIA capabilities in the submarine field. These capabilities concern the design and production areas and also the ability to train and transfer the necessary technology to
build submarines in foreign Shipyards, where the language and culture are different.
Defence Turkey: What are the capabilities of AIP systems of Navantia? Can you tell us your
studies and activities on these sytems?
NAVANTIA has also signed a Contract with the Spanish Navy to design and construct four brand new conventional submarines. This submarine, the S80, is a challenge for NAVANTIA and incorporates the most advanced technologies
in the submarine field. One of these technologies is the Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system. The AIP integrated onboard the S80 is based on fuel cells which are fed with hydrogen and oxygen. These fuel cells are based on a new technology and produce electrical energy to charge the submarine batteries. The main difference with respect to other AIP systems
is that the hydrogen is obtained from the ethanol which can be procured everywhere. This system is being developed with some subcontractors and is now at the final stage of development.
Defence Turkey: Recently Australia has elected Navantia as the designer of 3 destroyers and
builder of 2 amphibious LHD. Could you please inform us about the technical capabilities of
Navantia Amphibious ships ?
The LHD designed by Navantia and selected by the Australian Navy is a new concept of ship, which one unit is being built in our shipyards for the
Spanish Navy. This ship is has been designed for different missions, to allow the strategic projection of Marines and Army Forces with respect to their own action roles and to serve
as eventual aircraft carrier to support
aviation embarked forces. These missions require a multipurpose ship, which should be able to perform at least four different tasks related to
four different configurations:
Marines Forces Projection ARMY Forces Projection
Eventual Platform for Aircraft Carrier Operations
Non Combatant Operations The multipurpose role is one of the main characteristics of the ship. It should be understood that the vessel
should be able to operate in the abovementioned
missions but not necessarily in a simultaneous mode.
Defence Turkey: It is seen that you have sound achievements in Norway, Malaysia, India,
Australia etc... What are the on going programmes and projects that Navantia is carrying out in and around Spain? Could you
please share us the current situation
of these programmes and projects?
Our commercial actions in these moments are mainly in Turkey, Malaysia and South Africa. In Turkey the interest is for the S-80 submarine,
in Malaysia and South Africa the interest
is in amphibious ships.
Defence Turkey: Navantia is one of the companies who received Request for Proposal (RFP) for New Type Submarine (AIP) Project regarding the procurement of six submarines with air independent propulsion in Turkey. You are following up the Landing Platform Dock Project
as well. Could you please inform us about your activities in Turkey? what are your objectives
and strategies geared towards Turkey? Do you plan co-production with a Turkish partner in
line with your strategies?
Navantia is very honored to participate in the 2 programs for the Turkish Naval Forces Command, we are following very closely their developments;
Navantia is in a perfect position to strongly compete in both fields. For the NTSP our proposal is based on the Spanish Navy S-08 Submarine Program that is under construction at
this moment at our Cartagena Shipyard, this submarine will provide the TNFC the performances needed to fulfill its missions with a 21st century development, cutting edge technology.
We believe it is a great opportunity for the TNFC to join the S-80 adventure that will provide them the most modern and powerful conventional submarine to sail the seas in the next coming years.Regarding the LPD, we have submitted our response to the RFI based on a
modernization of the Spanish Navy “Galicia” class LPD (2 unit in operation) adapted to the specific requirements from the TNFC. For both programs, Navantia is very interested in collaborating with the Turkish defence industry, at this moment we are finalizing agreements
with a few Turkish companies for the NTSP in order to provide our response to the RFP with the highest possible level of local content.
Defence Turkey: It is obvious that to obtain a sustained competitive advantage in global market,
Navantia emphasizes importance of setting a new product development and innovation policy.
Could please tell us your R&D activities and your recent studies in line with your RDTI plan?
The Company is innovating in the most relevant areas of Naval ship design and construction:
Development of new ship concepts, aiming to provide solutions to current Navies concept operations and requirements
• Research on a new reference data base of hull forms with well-known hydrodynamic performances for a wide range of naval vessels from small patrol boats to frigates.
• Modelling and Simulation capabilities,
to provide a quick and accurate design validation and to facilitate the system integration since the first stages of the Programs.
• Signature evaluation and control tools, in order to improve radar, noise and IR signatures of our products.
• Development of Specialty Engineering (Safety, Security, Environmental, Human Factors,
Reliability, Maintainability) for each phase of the program in order to reduce the product’s lifecycle cost.
• Design and development of state of
the art Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) systems for conventional submarines.
• Improvement of shipyard processes, engineering, procurement and production, in order to maximise automation and efficiency.