Navantia marks construction milestones for Spanish Navy’s F-110 frigate program

Spanish shipbuilding company Navantia has held a double ceremony in which the keel of the F112 was laid and the first steel of the F113 was cut as part of the Spanish Navy’s F-110 program.

As disclosed, the company’s shipyard in Ferrol (A Coruña) hosted a double ceremony on April 25, 2025. Both milestones demonstrate the progress of the F110 program, which involves the construction of a series of five new-generation frigates that Navantia is building for the Spanish Navy.

The F113 frigate, which 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 to save manufacturing time and improve welding quality. The construction of the F113 began three months ahead of the scheduled timeline, according to Navantia.

The shipyard is also developing a new digital block factory, which will be fully operational 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, Navantia noted.

To remind, a keel-laying ceremony for the first F110 frigate was held in August 2023.

The F110 frigate program, whose execution order was signed in 2019, includes the construction of five units worth €4.325 million. These ships will have anti-aircraft, anti-surface, and anti-submarine capabilities, and will be 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.