On October 31st, the first barge shock test for the F110 Program was successfully completed, which will allow the shock qualification of the diesel generator, main switchboard, and fuel purifier module, equipment that will be installed on the frigates that Navantia is currently building for the Spanish Navy at the Ferrol shipyard.
The successful completion of these demanding tests, which submit the operating equipment to three underwater detonations of increasing severity, represents a historic milestone for Navantia, as it is the first time that Navantia coordinates the execution of this type of tests; for Navantia Engines, for the shock qualification equivalent to the MIL standard of the Navantia-MTU20V4000 “encapsulated” diesel generator, with 100% Navantia Engines design and manufacturing, currently the only alternative with these characteristics in the NATO environment; and for the F110 Program, due to the relevance of the qualified equipment, which are part of the ships’ electrical and propulsion plants.
The tests were carried out on the “Shock Test Vehicle STV02” barge that Thornton Tomasetti Defence Ltd (TTDL) uses for this type of shock tests at the Limehillock facilities (Scotland).
The working team included representatives from Navantia and TTDL, as well as the manufacturers of the tested equipment: Navantia Engines, along with Rolls Royce (MTU) and Alconza, for the diesel generator, Elinsa for the main switchboard, and GEA Westfalia for the fuel purifier module.
Also present were representatives from Defense, the F110 Program Office of the General Directorate of Armament and Material (DGAM), the American company Element (formerly NTS), which acts as a third party for Defense, ensuring the correlation between the test carried out in Scotland (British standard) and the one that would be carried out in the USA (MIL standard), as well as a Canadian technologist who has been advising Navantia on vulnerability issues for more than 25 years.
The Navantia and TTDL teams are now working on dismantling the equipment from the barge, already shock qualified, and assembling the next equipment, the electric propulsion motor and its frequency converter, which will be shock tested on the STV02 barge at the end of November.
