Richard Scott 17 Jun 2024

"Lockheed Martin and Navantia Sistemas have revealed that the AN/SPY-7(V)2 solid-state S-band radar selected to equip the Spanish Navy’s new F-110 Bonifaz class frigates has gone through its Critical Design Review (CDR) milestone and transitioned into its production phase."

Meanwhile, a SPY-7 engineering development model (EDM) is shortly to begin testing at Lockheed Martin Rotary & Mission Systems’ Moorestown facility in New Jersey as part of an integration and test facility for the F-110 combat system core.
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Navantia Sistemas has assumed the role of combat system design agent for the F-110 program, and is providing the indigenous Sistema de Combate de los Buques de la Armada (SCOMBA) combat management system (CMS). SCOMBA will integrate with the AN/SPY-7(V)2 radar and the International Aegis Fire Control Loop (IAFCL) being supplied by Lockheed Martin under a US government Foreign Military Sales contract.
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The EDM, which completed production at the end of 2023, is currently going through near-field testing. This demonstrator system is planned to start live tracking events later this year as part of the Aegis-SCOMBA Integration Center (ASIC) already established at Moorestown, said Koch. “This where we are bringing together the SCOMBA [CMS] along with the Aegis weapon system [and] the SPY-7 radar. So we will be able to test that end-to-end combat system capability,”

According to Cristina Abad, director of Navantia Sistemas number of combat system integration test events have already been held at the ASIC facility to demonstrated that SCOMBA and IAFCL can exchange tracks. “The next steps,” she said, “are to install in 2025 the Aegis tactical programs in Navantia Sistemas’ land-based test site in Spain to perform integration testing of both the Aegis and SCOMBA systems.”

Koch added: “This [integration] is something of a novel concept [as] it’s actually the first time that Lockheed Martin is not the combat system engineering agent for an Aegis weapon system,” Koch explained. “Navantia Sistemas has that role, and SCOMBA is the lead combat system here…the concept of the International Aegis Fire Control Loop allows us to encapsulate the Aegis weapon system and interface with an international combat management system.“

“It’s been in development for several years, and it’s part of our Aegis Common Source Library.”

The first AN/SPY-7(V)2 coming into Spain will arrive in 2026 to equip the Spanish Navy’s Centro de Integración de Sistemas en Tierra (CIST) land-based test facility in Rota. The system delivered to the CIST will be integrated into a sensor mast structure representative of that to be fitted to the F-110 frigates. “This will allow integration and testing to be performed for the SPY-7 radar in a coastal/maritime environment together with the other radars and sensors that will equip the ship,” said Abad.