Spanish F-103 frigate will lead NATO nations

Spanish Navy F-103 frigate “Blas de Lezo” built by Navantia, will lead the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG-2) operations from June to October 2013.

SNMG-2 is a multinational maritime force, formed by ships of several NATO member countries, in order to accomplish a wide range of missions, going from the participation in exercises to crisis missions. It participates in “Active Endeavour” operation against terrorism, and in “Ocean Shield” operation against piracy in the Indian Ocean. Countries as Greece, Italy, Holland, Turkey, U.K. and USA participate in this operative.

It is scheduled that F-101 frigate “Alvaro de Bazán” and F-105 frigate “Cristóbal Colón”, the most modern of the series, will follow the leading position of SNMG-2 until June 2014.

From the capabilities point of view, the F-100 class frigates are state-of-the-art ships and one of the most technologically advanced in service. They are multipurpose ships, specially designed for the anti-air warfare and to perform as command ships and other rolls of a modern escort.

The AEGIS combat system and the multifunction SPY 1-D radar make the ship able to detect and handle up to 90 targets simultaneously up to a distance of 600 km. 

Furthermore the F-100 frigates have Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) capability, as they have the possibility to be upgraded in order to launch the SM-3 missiles.

This project meant a challenge, as the most powerful Combat System had to be fitted into the smallest platform capable of hosting it. It must be highlighted that this type of combat system had only been installed before on board US Navy destroyers and cruisers and in Japanese Navy destroyers, whose displacement was larger than 9,000 tons.