Keel Laid for Spanish Navy’s First F110 Frigate

Navantia laid the keel at Spain’s Ferrol shipyard for the first of five F110 frigates being built for country’s Navy.

The construction of the first pilot blocks of the F-111, the first of its class, began in April 2022 in a cut of first steel ceremony led by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. It will be commissioned in 2027 and deliveries will take place yearly.

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.

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