F100 Frigate

Spain's pioneering Aegis air-defence frigate — a compact but powerful combatant that proved a European hull could host the SPY-1D radar and 48 Mk 41 cells, and became the design parent of Norway's Nansen-class and inspiration for Australia's Hobart-class.

Overview

The F100 Álvaro de Bazán-class frigate, also called the Bazán-class, is a guided-missile frigate in service with the Spanish Navy. It was the first European warship to be built around the United States’ Aegis Combat System, pairing a passive phased-array radar with a 48-cell vertical launch system in a hull roughly one-third the displacement of the US destroyers that carried the same sensor. Five ships were delivered between 2002 and 2012, and the class has provided task-group air defence for allied carrier missions while directly influencing the design of Norway’s F310 Nansen-class frigates and Australia’s Hobart-class destroyers.

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