Bidasoa Class

The Bidasoa Class frigate are the main surface combatant ships of the Eusko Itsas Gudarostea. The ships are named after Euskal Herria rivers, with the lead ship of the class bearing the name of Bidasoa. It is the first vessel of the Eusko Itsas Gudarostea completly made in Euskadi from the design to the final phases.

Design
During the design phase of the ship, both IEIA and the shipyard took into account the following premises:
 * A displacement over 6000 tons
 * A power system with NAtech Hybrid Multi-Gas Power Plant and a brand new fully electrical propulsion system with 2 ABB AZIPODs azimut thrusters mounted externally to the main hull
 * Fully compatibility with EIG standards
 * A complete weapon system in accordance with operational requirements of multirole ship

Power generation & propulsion
The power plant of the ship has been designed to suit the needs and requirements of the Eusko Itsas Gudarostea and the new systems and elements of the ship. IEIA chose to equip the ship with a clean fuel cell propulsion system developed by the company NAtech.

The power plant of the ship was designed taking into account the current needs of energy for propulsion and other systems on board, so it was possible to assume an increase in power required if new equipment or systems were installed in the future.

For the propulsion of the ship NAtech has developed a solution combining 2 NAtech Statpower System power plants of 35 MW each with 4 NAsoft ST energy servers with 5MW power each. Aditional 3 NAsoft ST energy servers provide the electricity needed for the ship military and support systems.

The propulsion system is fully electrical with four AZIPOD s (ABB azimut thrusters) mounted externally to the main hull. The electricity for the motors is supplied by the power system.

Electronic systems
One of the main design premises was the need to mount Euskadi compatible electronic systems in order to full integration with other Armed Forces systems and satellite net.

Sensors
 * 1 x TERMA C-Flex Combat Management System
 * 1 x TERMA C-Fire Fire Control System
 * 1 x Saab EOS 500 Electro Optical Fire Control
 * 1 x TERMA SCANTER 4100 Surveillance Radar

Electronic warfare
 * 1 x Kongsberg C-Scope Sonar System


 * 1 x Saab SME-200 Tactical EMS / ELINT
 * 1 x Saab NLWS Naval Laser Warning System

Decoys


 * 2 x TERMA C-Guard Intelligent Decoy Launcher System for 130 mm ammunition
 * 1 x TERMA DL-12T decoy launcher
 * 1 x TERMA Loki torpedo countermeasure

Armament
The weapons system of the class are:


 * 4 × 8-cell Ezpata Vertical Launching System
 * 16 &times; Arpoi SSMs
 * 4 &times; torpedo tubes for Barrakuda
 * Depth charges
 * 1 &times; 57 mm AB BOFORS Mk.3
 * 4 &times; 12,7 mm M2 Browning M2HB HMG Sea Protector
 * 2 x Long Range Acoustic Device
 * 1 &times; spare CIWS gun w/ calibre 40 mm

Air wing
The ships have a fligh deck for:


 * 1 x AS532 Cougar ASUW / ASW


 * 1 UAV

List of ships
The 16 ships are named after Euskal Herria rivers.