The Spanish Navy’s fleet of AEGIS F100 air-defence frigates will get upgrades to extend their operational life until 2045, it has been announced.
As per a press statement from Navantia, Spain’s Council of Ministers has approved a €3.2bn contract spanning a decade to carry out a mid-life upgrade on the forces’s Álvaro de Bazán-class warships.
The work will be carried out at the firm’s Ría de Ferrol shipyard in A Coruna, which lies in the northern Spanish region of Galicia.
The five vessels were built by Navantia and delivered to the national navy between 2002 and 2012; they are now halfway through their initially intended service life. They were designed to provide both air defence and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities.
Navantia President Ricardo Domínguez commented: “Navantia will collaborate closely with the Spanish Navy to modernize the F100 frigates, internationally recognized as one of the best multipurpose vessels in the world, in order to maintain their capabilities at the forefront of technology.
“Together with the F110 frigates already under construction, Navantia will thus contribute to providing Spain with the best defensive capabilities at sea.”
The Álvaro de Bazán-class frigates are 147m long, displace 5,800 tons, have a range of 4,500 nautical miles, and can sail at up to 28 knots. They have a crew of about 200 sailors and were the first European ships to integrate the U.S-developed AEGIS combat system.
They carry 64 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles and 32 RIM 66 Standard MR missiles for surface-to-air engagements and 8 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, which are set to be replaced with Kongsberg Naval Strike Missiles (NSMs), probably during the upgrade programme.
The warships also form the basis for the Royal Australian Navy’s Hobart-class destroyers, as well as the Royal Norwegian Navy’s Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates.
As per Navantia’s statement, the mid-life upgrade of the Spanish ships “aims to extend the operational life of the entire series until 2045, eliminate identified obsolescence, establish commonalities in the updated systems, improve their efficiency and operability, and adapt them to environmental regulations.”
- You can read more details on the Navantia website