On Wednesday, November 26, 2025, the Spanish company Navantia announced that the Council of Ministers had approved the signing of a contract estimated at 3.2 billion EUR to carry out the Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) of the five F100 Álvaro de Bazán–class guided-missile frigates. The work is expected to take up to 120 months (10 years) from the date the contract is signed with the contractor.
Photo: Navantia
The work, which will be carried out at the Ría de Ferrol shipyard, will have an average annual impact of 215 million EUR on GDP and will help maintain around 3,500 jobs (direct and indirect). The modernization program is part of the Industrial and Technological Security and Defense Plan approved by the government in April of last year.
Five ships (out of six originally planned), built by Navantia, serve in the Spanish Navy (Armada Española). These are Álvaro de Bazán, Almirante Juan de Borbón, Blas de Lezo, Méndez Núñez, and Cristóbal Colón, commissioned between 2002 and 2012.
The goal of the MLU program is to extend the service life of the entire series to 2045, eliminate identified aging issues, ensure commonality with updated systems, improve performance and functionality, and adapt the ships to environmental regulations
“Navantia will work closely with the Navy to modernize the F100s, internationally recognized as one of the best multipurpose ships in the world, in order to keep their capabilities at the technological forefront. Together with the F110s already under construction, Navantia will thus help provide Spain with the best maritime defense capabilities,” said Navantia President Ricardo Domínguez.
The F100s have a length of 146.7 meters, a beam of 18.6 meters, a draft of 4.75 meters, a standard displacement of 5,900 tons, and a full-load displacement of 6,594 tons. They are powered by two General Electric LM2500 gas turbines with a combined output of 46,650 hp (34,790 kW) and two Caterpillar 3600 diesel engines with a combined output of 12,000 hp (8,900 kW). This provides a top speed of up to 28 knots and a range of up to 4,500 nautical miles at an economical speed of 18 knots. The crew consists of 201 officers and sailors.
The ships are equipped with a 48-cell Mk 41 VLS for 32 SM-2MR Block IIIA surface-to-air missiles or 64 RIM-162 ESSMs, eight RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, a 127 mm Mk 45 Mod 2 naval gun, and two 325 mm Mk 32 Mod 9 torpedo launchers for 12 Mk 46 Mod 5 lightweight torpedoes. The stern can accommodate one SH-60B Seahawk (LAMPS III) multirole helicopter.
Based on this design, three slightly larger Hobart-class air-defense destroyers (Hobart, Brisbane, and Sydney) were built for Australia, commissioned between 2017 and 2020. The design was modified and features expanded capabilities of the U.S. Aegis Combat System in the Baseline 7.1 configuration.
The F100 design also served as the basis for the five slightly smaller Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen–class frigates (Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen, Otto Sverdrup, Helge Ingstad, and Thor Heyerdahl), commissioned between 2006 and 2011. One of them, the Helge Ingstad, was rammed on November 8, 2018, by the Maltese tanker Sola TS and subsequently sank near the Sture oil terminal in the Norwegian municipality of Øygarden. After being salvaged, towed, and assessed, it was judged beyond economical repair and scrapped. The Norwegians accused the Spanish of design flaws, but in June of this year a legal settlement concluded that the accident resulted from a series of human errors, while the sinking itself was caused by a combination of damage and design shortcomings.
The F100 was also unsuccessfully offered to Poland under the Miecznik program.
🆕@NavantiaOficial modernizará las #fragatas F100 clase ‘Álvaro de Bazán’ para extender su vida hasta 2045
El programa se ejecutará en Ría de #Ferrol, tendrá un impacto medio anua de 215 millones de euros en el PIB y 3.500 #empleos ⬇️https://t.co/Y9dKm47Hq3
— Navantia (@NavantiaOficial) November 26, 2025
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