Navantia has started the construction process of the second frigate of the F-110 class for the Spanish Navy, thus confirming the speeding up of this programme valued at €4.325 million. The cut of the first steel of the F-112 took place on December 16, 2023 at Navantia’s shipyard in Ferrol (A Coruña, Spain), in the presence of the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez; the Fourth Vice-President of the Spanish Government and Minister of Finance and Public Function, María Jesús Montero; the President of SEPI, Belén Gualda and the President of Navantia, Ricardo Domínguez.

The programme -whose execution order was signed in 2019- foresees the construction of five frigates. The start of production of the F-112 is four months ahead of schedule, thanks to the high degree of maturity of the design and the progress of engineering work. The first frigate of the series, the F-111, under construction since 2022, has been also sped up and has gained momentum with a total of 24 out of the 33 blocks currently in various stages of construction and assembly.

The Spanish Navy’s F-110 frigates are multi-purpose escort vessels, with antiaircraft, anti-surface and anti-submarine capabilities that will enable them to perform their force protection and naval projection functions. These ships, which are intended to operate in combination with other units, make them versatile platforms that can perform maritime security-related functions. The design of this new frigate includes advanced technological features, such as an integrated mast with different sensor and antenna solutions, a multi-mission space that expands the ship’s capabilities in all defence segments and a new hybrid propulsion plant, more efficient and silent, giving the ship great versatility. The frigates will be equipped with the Spanish combat system, SCOMBA, developed by Navantia Systems.

The F-110 frigate will be a smart ship, the first Spanish naval programme designed to have a Digital Twin: a virtual replica of the ship that constantly receives information from the vessel, data permanently supplied by a network of sensors distributed throughout the ship, constituting a cyber-physical system that through the use of behavioural models and technologies such as Cloud Computing, Machine Learning and the Internet of Things (IoT) allows to support its maintenance and operation even thousands of miles away through the Digital Twin deployed ashore. The F-110 will also have 3D printers on board for the manufacture of spare parts and will be the first ships in the fleet to have an integrated cybersecurity system to protect the vessels against increasing cyberthreats.