Navantia has announced that the F-110 class will have a very specific radar manufactured by Lockheed Martin, one of the giants of the US-based military industry.
Advanced radar
One of the novelties that the next F-110 class will incorporate is the advanced SPY-7 radar developed by Lockheed Martin and which will be implemented on ships together with the Spanish Indra as part of the Aegis combat system.
In the technical specifications of the radar we have the ability to provide protection against ballistic missiles integrated with the Aegis programs for boats and for land placement, it will also provide superior performance to SPY-1 radars, being able to track and attack ballistic missile threats sophisticated, several at once included. In addition, it is interoperable with most of the radars and defense platforms in the world.
As reported by Lockheed Martin, the SPY-7 radar uses gallium nitride (GaN) as the main building block, which allows better cooling of the radar, which leads to a higher and sustained performance over time. The SPY-7 has thousands of mini scanners allowing you a much more precise and discreet coverage. In addition, the radar has been designed so that it can be updated as threats evolve.
Aegis system
The first SPY-7 radar is expected to be operational at sea in 2026 aboard the first F-110 frigate that will leave the Navantia shipyards.
The Spanish anti-submarine ship
The F2M2 project, which later resulted in the F-110 class, was commissioned by the Ministry of Defense to Navantia and Indra for the design, development and construction of a new batch of ships.
Specifically, a new antisubmarine vessel should have an operational life of forty years and have enough space to board 2 helicopters or unmanned vehicles. The F-110 vessels will have to maintain a sustained speed of more than 35 knots with 240 days of operation. The crew is estimated to be about 150 people and is powered by a pair of hybrid engines.