Navantia’s shipyard in Ferrol (A Coruña) hosted a double ceremony last Friday in which the construction of the F113 frigate, the third ship of the F110 series, began, and the keel of the F112 frigate was laid.
Both milestones, presided over by the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, demonstrate the progress of the F110 program, the series of five new-generation frigates that Navantia is building for the Spanish Navy and which is progressing months ahead of the scheduled timeline.
The F113 frigate, that will be named ‘Menéndez de Avilés,’ has begun its construction in a robotic welding cell, an R&D industrial development of the shipyard’s Innovation and Robotics Center, aimed at digital transformation and process automation.
This development will automate the construction of certain components using techniques such as artificial vision and flexible programming, saving manufacturing time and improving welding quality. The construction of the F113 began three months ahead of the scheduled timeline.
As well, Navantia is developing a new Digital Block Factory, which will be fully working in 2026, and will be debuting with blocks for the F-113 frigate.
Next, the keel of the F112 frigate ‘Roger de Lauria,’ the second of the program, was laid. The block placed is the 212 on which the rest of the ship will grow, to be launched in 2026. With this milestone, celebrated seven months ahead of the scheduled timeline, the F112 ‘leaves’ the workshop and begins its construction in the slipway.
The keel of the F112 was placed next to the first of the series, the F111 ‘Ramon Bonifaz,’ in slipway 2, with a block assembly progress of over 85% and preparing for its launch in the coming months.
Today’s celebration of the start of construction of the F113 frigate and the laying of the keel of the F112 is carried out 3 and 7 months ahead of the agreed schedule with the Ministry of Defense, confirming the good progress of the F110 program.
Five ships plus a digital twin
The F110 frigate program, whose execution order was signed in 2019, includes the construction of five units worth 4.325 million euros. These are versatile escort ships, with anti-aircraft, anti-surface, and anti-submarine capabilities, able to operate in combination with other units. They are versatile ships that can also perform functions related to maritime security and support to civil authorities.
The F110 is a qualitative leap in terms of the Navy’s capabilities and the industrial and technological potential of Navantia and its entire collaborating industry. It thus contributes to Spain’s strategic autonomy and to having a leading industrial and technological base, while opening new export opportunities.
The program incorporates the Digital Twin, an innovative concept that will make the Ferrol shipyard an international reference in frigates. The Digital Twin, designed in close collaboration with the Navy and the Directorate General of Armament and Material (DGAM) of the Ministry of Defense, is a virtual replica of the ship that is fed in real-time with information from data permanently supplied by a network of sensors distributed throughout the ship, constituting a cyber-physical system that, using behavior models and technologies such as Cloud Computing, Machine Learning, or the Internet of Things (IoT), supports its maintenance and operation even thousands of miles away through the Digital Twin deployed on land.
