Bradley Stokes
PROBLEMS surrounding the state-of-the-art Navy vessel have resurfaced after issues with its weight and size.
The S-80 plus submarine – which cost more than double than first planned – weighs 800 tons and has faced issues with buoyancy, forcing the Navantia shipyard to add 10 meters to the ship to resolve the issue.
The news comes after it was found that the 81 meter submarine was too big to fit inside its naval base in Cartagena, southeastern Spain.
The docking area can only accommodate ships up to 78 meters.
Industry experts say, if the problems can be resolved it can a highly competitive submarine but ‘if things continue to go wrong the whole project will fail’.
The bill for this vessel is estimated to have added nearly €1.8 billion to the final cost with German and Israeli sub vessels only costing between €400 million – €600 million.
