Although it has not yet received a contract, Navantia, a Spanish shipping company, is fairly keen to release a futuristic warship design, which may only be realized in the next 10 years. As if continuing the Smart 400 concept, which is a 4,000 tonne warship with a stealth design, Navantia Australia at the Indo Pacific 2022 event in Sydney (10 – 12 May), introduced the Smart 8000 concept.
While the Smart 4000 emphasizes future frigate design, the Smart 8000 emphasizes the design of a future guided-missile destroyer with a weight in the range of 8,000 – 10,000 tons.
Quoted from Janes.com, Navantia admits that the Smart 8000 comes from the Smart 4000 concept released in 2021.
The Smart 8000 has an overall length of about 162 meters, and a width of less than 6 meters. This destroyer can accommodate a crew of about 120 personnel. Similar to the Smart 4000 design, the Smart 8000 also adopts a wave-piercing hull which is expected to reduce resistance and fuel consumption.
The Smart 8000 can reach a top speed of 30 knots and can cover up to 6,000 nautical miles (11,112 km) at an economical speed. Speaking of weaponry, the Smart 8000 is equipped with a 36-cell vertical launch system (VLS) for hand/anti-ship missiles and a 76mm caliber cannon at the front.
The Smart 8000 concept can be equipped with multidimensional warfare mission modules, including anti-submarine, anti-surface and anti-air operations.
The mission space on the Smart 8000 is designed for extensive deployment of artificial intelligence-based components, including remote diagnostic systems and launch and recovery systems (LARS) for unmanned surface and underwater vessels.
Representatives from Navantia Australia highlighted how the ship was incorporated into the flight deck, but without the helicopter hangar. This makes the concept more agile for high tempo operations where aircraft, including helicopters and rotor-wing unmanned aerial vehicles, can utilize ships for 'lily pad' operations.
According to Juan Antonio Clemente Fernandez of Engineering Digital Transformation, Ship Concept Design Office, the SMART 8000 is intended as a testing ground for future technologies that could be introduced in the next 10 years.
There are several similarities in the design of the Smart 8000 with the US Navy's Zumwalt Class destroyers, particularly in the design of the tumblehome bow, reduced radar cross section, smaller bulb and enclosed weapons spaces.
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