Spain Awards Lockheed Martin $519m for F-110 Aegis & SPY-7 Radar Systems

The U.S. Navy, on behalf of Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customer Spain, has awarded Lockheed Martin a $519.1 million contract to support AEGIS and SPY-7 systems for the future F-110 frigates of the Spanish Navy.

The contract covers the procurement of AEGIS fire control loop development, Solid State S-Band Radar Processing Group, tools and test equipment, and spares for five new multi-mission frigates operating the AEGIS combat system.This FMS contract will support the in-development Bonifaz-class (F-110) Frigates of the Spanish Navy and their SPY-7 radar.

The contracted work will be performed mostly in the US and is expected to be completed by April 2030.

Spain is obligating $90.7 million in FMS funding at the time of the award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command at Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

About the F-110 Frigate of the Spanish Navy

Navantia and the Spanish Ministry of Defense have signed the contract for the construction of five F-110 frigates for the Spanish Navy in April 2019.

F-110 frigates are set to replace the Spanish Navy’s Santa Maria-class frigates which have been in service for over 30 years. F-110 frigates will be fitted with the Aegis combat system integrating a new solid-state S-band radar by Indra. Lockheed Martin and Indra have been collaborating since 2009 to develop a state-of-the-art S-band solid state radar for Spain’s F-110 Frigate Program.

Known as the Bonifaz-class, these frigates will feature:

• A sonar suite by Thales (BlueMaster UMS 4110 and CAPTAS 4 Compact sonars, the TUUM-6 underwater communication system, and the BlueScan digital acoustic system)

• The SCOMBA combat system by Navantia

• The S-band variant of Lockheed Martin’s SPY-7 radar

• Leonardo 127mm 127/64 LW main gun

• Raytheon’s Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) Block 2 missile

Indra systems aboard F-110

Indra leads the development within the F110 Program of some of several advanced sensors.  In addition to the tiles for the S-band radar, Indra is developing:

• The 25X Prisma Radar: whose mission is surveillance of the surface and low-altitude aerial targets. 
• The IFF System: which will identify allied from enemy aircraft and will have an integrated ADS-B surveillance system that will give support to air control in international missions. 
• Electronic defence systems: which will track the communications band and the radar band. They will detect and identify any vessel, submarine or nearby aerial or land platform, allowing the ship to circumvent multiple threats simultaneously
• IRST i110: which will provide protection capacity against sea-skimming missiles or swarms of vessels, which typically attempt to impact the waterline of ships. It is a system on which Indra is working in conjunction with Tecnobit. 

F-110 Specifications

Displacement: 6100 tons
Length    145 m
Width  18 m
Draft  5 m
Speed  35 knots
Crew 150 sailors
Aviation facilities: Hangar + helideck for 2 NH-90 NFH/TTH or 2 SH-60 or UAV