The Spanish Navy is working with Navantia to develop a much more powerful air-defense variant of its new F-110 frigate. These plans will effectively transform the anti-submarine-focused design into a formidable fleet defense platform.
The Navy is currently building five F110 Bonifaz-class frigates. These ships are intended to be modern multirole vessels, but they primarily focus on anti-submarine warfare (ASW).
The first of the line, the Bonifaz, was launched in September of last year and is expected to be officially commissioned into the Navy by 2028. The last, the Barceló, is expected sometime in 2032.
Each ship comes with 16 missile launch cells, a Lockheed Martin SPY-7 radar, an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopter, and other cutting-edge missile defense capabilities.
The new F-110 IAMD model, on the other hand, will reportedly come with somewhere close to 64 missile launch cells. It will also feature an enhanced radar and “additional aviation flexibility.”
The new ship will also be longer, measuring around 16 feet (5 meters) longer than the F-110 at 492 feet (150 meters). It will also measure around 61 feet (18.6 meters) in the beam and have a full-load displacement of around 6,700 tonnes.
Arguably the most significant change is the upgrade in vertical launch system (VLS) capacity. Compared to the F-110, the new ship will be capable of carrying around 48 strike-length cells forward of the bridge and 16 tactical-length cells aft for a total of 64.
These cells will be capable of carrying a combination of missiles, including longer-range SM-2 missiles and shorter-range Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM).
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