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Navantia has started construction of the new F-110 class frigate for the Spanish Navy with the cutting of the first steel plate. The event was presided by Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, in Navantia’s shipyard in Ferrol (A Coruña, Spain).
The program’s implementation order was signed in 2019 and foresees the construction of five frigates, valued at €4,320 million. The F-111 will be commissioned in 2027 and deliveries will take place yearly.
The F-110 frigates for the Spanish Navy are multi-purpose escort ships, with anti-aircraft, anti-surface, and anti-submarine capabilities to perform force protection and naval power projection duties. The versatile platforms will operate in combination with other units to perform functions related to maritime security.
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 defense segments and a new, more efficient and silent hybrid propulsion plant, providing the ship with great versatility. The frigates will be equipped with the Spanish combat system, SCOMBA, developed by Navantia Sistemas.
The F-110 frigate will be a smart ship, the first Spanish naval program 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 behavioral 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 Digital Twin is complemented by an Integrated Services System (ISS), an R&D developed with the Universities of Vigo and Coruña, which will provide the ship with integrated sensors in its light points, substantially reducing its wiring. The F110 will also have 3D printers on board for the manufacture of spare parts.
They will be the first ships in the fleet to have an integrated cybersecurity system to protect the vessels against increasing cyberthreats. This will enable the ship to have a reduced crew complement for operation, which will result in improved habitability.
