It is not the flagship of the Spanish fleet, but it is the frigate with the most self-defense and external defense capabilities of those available to the Navy. The choice of the Christopher Columbus for Spain’s contribution to the European mission of the defense of Cyprus is not coincidental, and is determined by the modernity of its systems.
The Cristóbal Colón belongs to the F100 series of Spanish frigates, but it stands out from the first of that family and incorporates new systems that its sisters will receive as they go through the modernization processes. It is, in fact, the youngest and, having been launched in 2010, the most advanced surface warship of its classas the F110 series combat ships arrive.
The fact that they finished construction 15 years ago determines differences with respect to their sisters in the Álvaro de Bazán class. Can defend better against missiles, but above all also against drones – one of the attack specialties of the Iranian Republican Guard – has determined the choice of defense.
shield
The system Aegis (Shield, in mythological terms translated into English) of anti-missile response carried by the frigate, capable of monitoring up to 200 targets and threats at onceis from a later edition than the anti-missile shields that were installed on the other Spanish frigates. In fact, when the F-105 Cristóbal Colón was built at the navantia shipyards in Ferrol (A Coruña), the previous versions of Aegis were not assembled.
The targets that the frigate system can process are detectable and acquireable up to 200 miles (about 300 kilometers) away. The new generations of the Aegis use a combat computer program that allows the command bridge to manage its own air defense, the anti-missile defense of a territory in its coverage area – the island of Cyprus and the fleet accumulated on another side of it in this case – and the management of attacks and responses in a surface war against other ships, drones or rockets.
The other valuable specialty of the new aegis in this case is also the ballistic missile trajectory detection and signaling capabilitylike the one launched by Iran in search of the Turkish Incirlik air base this Wednesday, and which was shot down by the anti-aircraft defenses installed by NATO around it, with the help, to determine the trajectory, of the Spanish Patriot missile battery detectors displaced to the Turkish city of Adama.
Shoot the drones
The so-called “point defense” of Spanish warships is a problem that the Ministry of Defense has been facing, exacerbated since this vulnerability of the Navy was revealed in the last Houthi rocket crisis in the Red Sea. And the frigate Cristóbal Colón has a flank covered against asymmetric attacks, that is, the possibility of being attacked with drones.
The Navy installed two 25mm automatic cannons from BAE Systems. It is an autonomous weapon. While other Navy ships They would still have to defend themselves with small caliber cannons, their aim depending on the human eye.these cannons have optical systems for detecting the threat and guiding the shots, which are much faster, more powerful and effective.
The Navy is installing Sentinel towers from the Spanish firm Escribano to other ships that already incorporate it, the frigates Santa María and Victoria among them, the result of a contract for the acquisition of 34 of these defenses for naval units of surface.
The mission
According to the details that have emerged from the mission, the frigate Cristóbal Colón, whose Last deployment was in the Baltic on NATO worknow sets sail under European organization. In fact, Cyprus now holds the rotating presidency of the Union.
The Cristóbal Colón will be integrated into a combat group with the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which is already in the eastern Mediterranean, and will be supported by the Cantabria supply shipwhich loads fuel, spare parts and other logistical elements.
The frigate Cristóbal Colón is a large ship, 146 meters in length, which enlists 215 sailors. The ship has 48 cells for launching missiles Standard SM and Sea Aparrow, both sea-to-air, as well as Harpoon and NSM anti-ship rockets.
Furthermore, it has Mark 46 torpedoes for the fight against submarines, comparable to those carried by North American cruisers.
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