Spanish Navy’s F-110 Frigate Clears Critical Design Review

Spanish Ministry of Defence, Spanish Navy and Navantia concluded the Critical Design Review (CDR) of the F-110 frigate.

This ensures that the design developed by Navantia meets the capabilities requested by the Ministry of Defence; and its readiness for full-fledged production.

F110 frigates are being constructed as a replacement for the Navy’s Santa Maria-class frigates. A €4.3 billion deal for these warships, set to replace the Navy’s Santa Maria-class frigates, was signed in April 2019. The vessels will feature anti-submarine capabilities and will undertake fleet protection, maritime security in joint and combined missions.

The construction of the first pilot blocks of the F-111, the first of its class, began last April in a cut of first steel ceremony led by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. The beginning of the manufactures, as well as the progress in the purchase of equipment and materials, have made it possible to reach the CDR with full guarantee of production work and with properly trained personnel. All the five F-110 class frigates will have been delivered by 2032.

This CDR has included new elements not contemplated in previous programmes, given the digital and smart profile of the new frigate, analysing the functionality of the future Digital Twin.

The CDR process began last December and has been fulfilled in June with around 30 technical sessions and two plenary sessions held at Navantia shipyard in Ferrol, on 21st and 22nd June. The level of technical maturity of the F-110 design is the highest ever reached in Navantia’s programmes.

The plenary sessions were attended by representatives of the Ministry of Defence, the Navy and Navantia, as well as the U.S. Navy and suppliers such as Lockheed Martin, Indra, Thales, Ingeteam and Ferri. On Thursday 23 June, the CDR closed with the executive session, which was attended by officials from the Directorate General for Armaments and Material (DGAM), the Navy’s Logistics Support Headquarters (JAL) and the Naval General Staff (EMA).

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 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
• Rohde & Schwarz external communications systems
• GMV’ SENDA navigation system
• Propeller systems by Kongsberg Maritime