The Spanish Navy and shipbuilder Navantia are jointly defining an integrated air and missile defence (IAMD) variant of the F110 frigate, Navantia said on Friday, October 23.
The ships would complement the five F110 or Bonifaz-class frigates currently under construction. The work follows Spanish Navy requirements for future capabilities set out in its “Armada 2050” strategy document, which was presented in Madrid in December 2024.
According to Navantia, the variant would be able to counter aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles simultaneously. The variant is intended to perform area air defence, escort high value assets, and coordinate air defence within a naval task group.
The design would also offer increased speed and endurance and be suitable for integration into NATO and European Union task groups.
Navantia said the design would have, "expanded vertical launch capacity, designed to accommodate different types of missiles and adapt the weapons load to the requirements of each mission."
Command and control would move to a new combat management system. This would be hosted in the cloud and would integrate sensors, weapons, uncrewed vehicles, and data links to provide a shared tactical picture across a naval force.
The variant would keep the baseline F110's anti-submarine and anti-surface capabilities, as well as its capabilities in electronic warfare and against asymmetric threats. It would also retain a multi-mission area intended to house mission modules, a second helicopter, and uncrewed vehicles.
Navantia said the IAMD ship’s final configuration will be developed with the Spanish Ministry of Defence, "in accordance with operational requirements and the corresponding procurement process."