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Virtual rendition of the submarine S-80Plus. NAVANTIA The problems surrounding the bizarre story of the Spanish Navy’s new submarine, the S-80 Plus, have yet to be completely resolved. First, a design flaw meant that the vessel was so heavy that it could not resurface, forcing engineers at the Navantia shipyard to add 10 meters to its length and increase its displacement of water by 800 tons to improve buoyancy. Now it turns out that this larger version of the S-80 does not fit inside its naval base in Cartagena, in southeastern Spain. This will force the Defense Ministry to enlarge...

€530m bill for Spain's 'sinking submarines' A defence contract worth €2.2 billion has hit the rocks after tests showed that the "world's most modern" submarine would plunge straight to the bottom of the sea. Sunday's El Mundo newspaper reported on the latest developments in the submarine saga that has given Spain's defence department a sinking feeling. The €2.2 billion contract to design and build four S-80 underwater craft, billed as "the most modern submarine in the word" has been put on red alert after engineers found flaws in the plans and sounded the klaxon. €530 million had already been spent...

Fuel cells plumb new depths Spanish plan fuel cell powered submarine James Murray, BusinessGreen, 06 Dec 2007 They have already been used in space and now low-carbon fuel cells are set to break another barrier after UTC Power announced it has inked a deal to provide a new 300KW fuel cell for use in the Spanish Navy's S-80 submarine. The company said the deal with Spanish shipbuilder Navantia represented one of the largest deals in its history and would see it develop a new proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell for the submarine. "One of the places that fuel cells...

UTC Power to Design Fuel Cell for Spanish Submarine Wednesday July 19, 8:49 am ET SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn., July 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- UTC Power, a United Technologies (NYSE: UTX - News) company, today announced that its UTC Fuel Cells unit will design and develop a 300 kW proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell power module for the Spanish shipbuilder NAVANTIA, S.A. for use in the Spanish Navy's S-80 submarine. The 300 kW PEM fuel cell will be designed to operate on reformed ethanol and pure oxygen. The Spanish Navy will install the new fuel cell power modules on its S-80...