On August 9, 2023, the official laying ceremony for the Spanish Navy of the lead frigate F 111 Bonifaz in a series of five ships of the new project F-110 took place at the enterprise of the Spanish shipbuilding association Navantia in El Ferrol. The ceremony of the first steel cutting for the ship took place on April 6, 2022.
Image of a promising frigate of the new project F-110 of the Spanish Navy (c) Navantia
The design of a promising large multi-purpose frigate of the new project F-110 (also designated F2M2), designed to replace the six frigates of the American Oliver H. Perry type (Santa Maria type) in the Spanish Navy, was started with the leading role of the Navantia association back in the 2000s. In 2015, to develop the ship and its systems, Navantia created the Protec 110 consortium with the Spanish electronics company Indra, and this consortium received a corresponding contract from the Spanish Ministry of Defense for technical design in December 2015. In March 2019, the Spanish government awarded Navantia a contract worth 4.325 billion euros for the construction of five frigates of the F-110 project at the shipyard in El Ferrol by 2031. A feature of the construction process of these ships is the creation of their "digital twin", which is innovative for such large combat units.
The now officially laid-down lead frigate F 111 Bonifaz is scheduled to be launched in 2025 and should be commissioned into the Spanish Navy in 2028. The first steel cutting for the second frigate F 112 Roger de Lairia is scheduled for the end of 2023 with the delivery of the ship in 2029. The next three frigates, F 113 Menéndez de Avilés, F 114 Luis de Córdova and F 115 Barceló, according to the current schedules, are planned to be commissioned, respectively, in 2030-2032. The possibility of ordering a sixth frigate of this type is not excluded in the future. All frigates received the traditional names of ships of the Spanish Navy in honor of figures of Spanish military and naval history. The lead frigate Bonifaz is named after Ramon Bonifaz, who became the founder of the Royal Navy of Castile and the first Admiral of Castile in the XIII century and in 1247-1248 conquered Seville from the Moors.
The frigates of the F-110 project are large ships with a standard displacement of 6,100 tons, the largest length of 145 m and a width of 18 m. The ship is equipped with a combined diesel-gas turbine-electric power plant according to the CODELADOG scheme, including one General Electric LM2500 gas turbine generator, four MTU4000 diesel generators and two electric motors, with two propeller shafts with variable pitch screws. There are also four separate diesel generators for the ship's electrical grid. The full speed should be 35 knots, and the cruising range is 4,100 miles at an economic speed of 15 knots. The crew is 150 people with the possibility of accommodating 37 more.
The basis of the frigate's armament is the AEGIS integrated weapon system supplied by Lockheed Martin Corporation, designed with the new AN/SPY-7(V) radar system2. The ship will receive a 16-charge Mk 41 universal vertical launcher for launching Raytheon RIM-66M-2 SM-2MR Standard Block IIIA and Raytheon RIM-162 ESSM Block 2 anti-aircraft guided missiles (the latter four in a cell). Other armament of the F-110 will consist of eight Kongsberg NSM anti-ship missile launchers, one 127 mm/64 Leonardo 127/64 LW universal artillery system, one new 25 mm Escribano Sentinel 25 RFG five-barrel anti-aircraft artillery system, two 30 mm Escribano Sentinel 30 single-barrel remotely controlled artillery systems, four 12.7mm remotely controlled Escribano Sentinel 2.0 machine guns, two 324 mm twin-tube torpedo tubes Mk 32 Mod 9 for anti-submarine torpedoes Mk 54. Two NH-90 NFH/TTH or Sikorsky MH-60R helicopters are permanently based in the hangar, and a place for UAVs is reserved.
The ship will have advanced electronic weapons, including the Navantia SCOMBA ASBU and a number of Indra development systems - Prisma-25X surface target detection radar with fixed AFAR, Rigel i110 and Regulus i110 radio and radio intelligence stations, IRST i110 optoelectronic detection and tracking complex. Enhanced anti-submarine capabilities will be provided by a combination of the Thales UMS-4110 BlueMaster submerged GAS, the Thales CAPTAS 4 towed GAS and the Thales BlueScan integrated information processing system for the underwater environment (an overview of the anti-submarine capabilities of the F-110 project frigate).
The main systems of the promising frigate of the new project F-110 of the Spanish Navy (c) www.buquesdeguerra.com
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The official laying ceremony at the Spanish shipbuilding association Navantia in El Ferrol for the Spanish Navy of the lead frigate F 111 Bonifaz in a series of five ships of the new project F-110, 09.08.2023 (c) Navantia
Video (from) Navantia :
