Focus on F-100 for MIECZNIK Programme
Focusing visitor attention on its F-100 frigate and S-80 submarine designs, Spanish shipbuilder Navantia will be exhibiting at MSPO 2021 in Kielce, Poland, this week for the first time.
The company has been hortlisted in the MIECZNIK competition to build three frigates under a technology transfer arrangement, with a proposal based on the F-100, which has already been the starting point for successful export contracts with Australia and Norway, in addition to the ‘core’ programme for the Spanish Navy. Navantia has a long track in the design and construction of a wide range of frigates, with proven flexibility, therefore, to suit the needs of the Polish Navy.
Navantia will also show: an F-100 based ‘Navantis’ advanced training environment at MSPO, aimed at reducing risks and operating costs, as well as increasing crew knowledge and capabilities; a ‘Navantis avatar’ of its AOR ship; and a model of the S-80, the first submarine designed and built by a Spanish company. S-80 will be the most advanced conventional submarine currently available, thanks in part to its air-independent propulsion system (AIP) that will enhance its stealth characteristics.
The MIECZNIK programme envisages construction of three multi-mission frigates at the PGZ shipyard in Gdynia, through a technology transfer contract with an international company – a business model in which Navantia has robust experience in Australia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, for example. The Spanish shipyard is now engaged in the viability phase, being conducted by PGZ, in order to propose a design that more closely meets the requirements of the Polish MoD’s Inspectorate of Armaments.
“Navantia is ready to have a local presence in Poland in order to support the construction and sustainment of the ships. We […] offer the Polish Navy a collaboration model that has proven to be of mutual benefit and that will allow Poland, a friend and ally, to have a highly technological naval defence capability, proven both by the Spanish Navy and by other international clients,” stated Javier Herrador, Navantia’s Commercial and Business Development Director.
