Presenting at the Defence Leaders Combined Naval Event (CNE) 2024 in Farnborough, UK, on 23 May, the company’s F-110 programme director Juan Carlos Díaz Cuadra said that first-of-class Almirante Bonifaz (F-111) is now taking shape on the slipway at Navantia’s Ferrol shipyard in northwest Spain.
Being procured to replace the ageing F-80 Santa María class frigates, the F-110 design is intended to provide the Armada Española with a versatile and flexible multi-mission surface combatant. Navantia was awarded EUR 4.325 billion manufacture contract for the five-ship class in April 2019, with the first ship scheduled for delivery in 2028.
Manufacture of F-111 commenced in 2022, with steel work now underway on 31 of the 33 major blocks that will make up the ship structure. A slide shown by Diaz in his CNE 2024 presentation suggested that the lead ship is currently running four months ahead of plan.
“Next year – probably in June – we will launch the first F-110,”
Juan Carlos Díaz Cuadra, F-110 programme director at Navantia
“We already have eight blocks on the slipway, soon to be ten.”
Nine blocks are currently inside the covered outfitting workshop at Navantia’s Ferrol shipyard site. Of these, seven are destined for F-111, with the remaining pair to be transported to the CIST (Centro de Integración de Sistemas en Tierra) land-based combat system integration, test and reference centre being established at Rota naval base.
Diaz added that F-112 – the second ship of the class – is eight months ahead of schedule, while steel cutting for the third frigate would start in September some 10 months in advance of plan. “So we are not meeting the milestones – we are in fact ahead of the programme,” he said.
The F-110 combat system is based on the integration of Navantia Sistemas SCOMBA combat management system with the US Aegis fire control loop. Lockheed Martin is supplying its AN/SPY-7(V)2 S-band solid state multifunction radar to the programme, with Spanish company Indra supplying the digital transmit/receive modules for the AN/SPY-7(V)2 system.
Indra is also providing the PRISMA 25X X-band radar, staring infrared search and track (developed with Tecnobit), the Rigel i110 electronic warfare suite, and the Regulus i110 communications electronic support measures system. All these sensors will be mounted within an integrated mast structure.
The underwater sensor suite is being supplied by Thales. This integrates the company’s BlueMaster hull-mounted medium-frequency sonar, the CAPTAS-4 Compact low frequency variable depth sonar, and the BlueScan digital acoustic system.
Major weapon systems include a Leonardo 127/64 LW medium-calibre gun, Raytheon Evolved SeaSparrow Block 2 anti-air missiles (fired from two eight-cell MK 41 vertical launchers), and the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile (two quad launchers fitted amidships). Two MK 32 Mod 9 torpedo launchers will also be fitted, together with small-calibre guns for close-in defence.
