Navantia press release / Translated by Naval News
The Navantia shipyard in Ferrol hosted the laying of the keel of the frigate F111 on Wednesday (09 August), whose construction began in April 2022 and is the first of five F110-class frigates for the Spanish Navy.
This milestone of the program took place in the presence of the Admiral Chief of Staff of the Navy, Antonio Piñeiro, accompanied by the President of Navantia, Ricardo Domínguez, and the Director of the Frigates and Intervention Ships Division, Eduardo Dobarro.
The act consisted in placing block 311 in Tier 2 of the Ferrol facilities, where the rest of the ship will grow. With this important event, Navantia continues to make progress in the construction of the five frigates of this series.
This ship is expected to be launched in 2025 and delivered to the Navy in 2028. The remaining ships will be delivered at 12-month intervals until 2032, the date that the Navy will receive the fifth unit.
The F110 program is fully under construction, with production proceeding ahead of schedule. To date, 18 of the 33 blocks that will make up the new F111 are in the manufacturing process. The maturity of the 3D model of the detailed design is about 80%, and 99% of the platform equipment has already been purchased for all ships in the series.
Navantia has activated a plan to accelerate the construction program, which was initiated by fine-tuning the production systems with a pilot block and materialized as this keel laying progressed. Construction of the F112 will begin before the end of the year.
“The F-110 program is an important project for the Navy, bringing the necessary replacement of the “Santa María” class frigates, while complementing the capacity of our F-100s as basic elements for the development of the rest of the fleet’s capabilities. This transition has been possible thanks to the excellent collaboration between the Navy and Navantia, which has developed over decades in a common interest in the search for excellence in shipbuilding.”
Admiral Piñeiro, Chief of Staff of the Spanish Navy
“The F110 is a transformative lever for our entire industrial and technological ecosystem. If the Ferrol shipyard is already a world reference in frigate construction, this program will move it to the technological and industrial forefront, with the upcoming construction of the Digital Block Factory and the Digital Twin Center of Excellence,” stressed Navantia President Ricardo Domínguez.
The F110 program will preserve about 9,000 jobs over a 10-year period, taking into account both direct and indirect employment, as well as employment induced by economic activity. Around 500 companies from all over Spain are participating.
Five ships plus a digital twin
The F110 frigate program, whose execution contract was signed in 2019, provides for the construction of five units worth 4,325 million euros. These are multipurpose escort ships that have anti-aircraft, anti-surface and anti-submarine capabilities and can operate in concert with other units. They are versatile ships that can also perform functions related to maritime security and support to civil authorities.
The F110 is a qualitative leap in terms of naval capabilities and the industrial and technological potential of Navantia and all the industry that collaborates with it. Thus, it contributes to Spain’s strategic autonomy and to a state-of-the-art industrial and technological base, opening new export opportunities.
The program includes the Digital Twin, an innovative concept that will make the Ferrol shipyard an international reference in frigate construction. The Digital Twin, developed in close collaboration with the Navy and the General Directorate of Armament and Material (DGAM) of the Ministry of Defense, is a virtual replica of the ship that is supplied with information about the vessel in a useful time. Data is continuously provided by a network of sensors distributed throughout the ship, forming a cyber-physical system that can support the maintenance and operation of the ship, even over thousands of miles, through the use of behavioral models and technologies such as cloud computing, machine learning or the Internet of Things (IoT).
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About F110 Frigate
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
- Konsgsberg NSM anti-ship missiles
- Rohde & Schwarz external communications systems
- GMV’ SENDA navigation system
- Propeller systems by Kongsberg Maritime
Indra leads the development within the F110 Program of some of several advanced sensors.
