Spanish Navy’s F-100 frigate Méndez Núñez is scheduled to integrate into the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 until the end of September.
The Méndez Núñez (F-104) will relieve her sister ship Álvaro de Bazán (F-101). Spanish Navy Rear Admiral José Enrique Delgado Roig took command of SNMG-1 in December during a ceremony in Cartagena (SE Spain).
The F-104 has participated in a number of international exercises and operations, among them, Active Endeavor and Unified Protector in the Mediterranean Sea.
NATO’s maritime groups are permanently available to NATO to perform different tasks ranging from participating in exercises to actually intervening in operational missions. To this end, the Méndez Núñez will participate in exercises like USA Baltops 16 in the Baltic Sea simulating a scenario with multiple threats, the anti-submarine exercise Dynamic Mongoose in the Norwegian Sea and the mine countermeasures (MCM) exercise Northern Coast.
During the four-month deployment the F-104 is scheduled to visit the following ports: Tallinn (Estonia), Libel (Germany), Zeebrugge (Belgium), Brest (France), Belfast and Leith (UK), Reykjavik (Iceland), Gothenburg (Sweden), Copenhagen (Denmark), Gdynia (Poland) and Rotterdam (the Netherlands).
One of the most modern warships of the Spanish Navy, the F-104 is the fourth Álvaro de Bazán’-class frigate (F-100). Her AEGIS combat system coupled with the SPY-1D multifunction radar provide ample anti-air defense capability. The frigate is under command of Cdr. Francisco José Asensi. For this mission the F-104 has embarked an SH-60B helicopter and a Marine Corps security team.