SEPI Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales

• The Defense Minister, Ms. María Dolores de Cospedal, launched the vessel

NAVANTIA has launched today, at 5:57 pm and at the San Fernando shipyard, the Off-shore Patrol Vessel P-45 (BAM class) “Audaz”, for the Spanish Navy. The Spanish Defense Minister, Ms. María Dolores de Cospedal García, acted as the patron to the vessel. The building of the BAM, until its delivery in 2018, entails 1.1 Million hours of work for NAVANTIA Bahía de Cádiz.

Besides the Defense Minister, the launching ceremony was attended also by the Head of the Economy and Knowledge department of the regional Government of Andalusia, Mr. Antonio Ramírez de Arellano; the Mayor of San Fernando, Ms. Patricia Cavada Montañés; the Admiral Chief of the Naval Staff, Mr. Jaime Muñoz-Delgado y Díaz del Río; SEPI’s Chairwoman, Ms. Pilar Platero Sanz, and her counterpart at NAVANTIA, Mr. José Manuel Revuelta Lapique.

This ship is the fifth of its class to be built, and the first of the second batch which NAVANTIA agreed to build for the Spanish Navy, according to the Execution Order signed on December 5th, 2014. It was in 2006 when NAVANTIA received the order for the first batch, which was concluded in 2012 after the construction and delivery to the Spanish Navy of four BAMs, which were christened as “Meteoro”, “Rayo”, “Relámpago” and “Tornado”. These ships have successfully taken part in many domestic and international actions.

The construction of this vessel entails for NAVANTIA Bahía de Cádiz 1.1 Million hours of work, both for its own workforce and for the ancillary industry. Besides, the shipyards of NAVANTIA at the Ría de Ferrol are building the sixth BAM, the P-46 “Furor”, which will be launched soon. The P-45 “Audaz” and the P-46 “Furor” will enter service from 2018 onwards

The laying of the keel of the BAM “Audaz” took place on April 29th, 2016, and it was the third ship of the Spanish Navy to be awarded that name. The two ships which preceded it under this name were destroyers: The first was into service from 1898 to 1924, while the second operated from 1953 to 1974. .

A versatile and high performance ship

BAMs can be best described as modern ships which incorporate highly advanced technology, a reasonable size, a high performance level, highly versatile for its missions, a high level of commonality with other ships of the Spanish Navy, and a reduced purchasing and maintenance cost.

Furthermore, they will include all the measures regarding the MARPOL regulation about the environment, such as the new propulsion and auxiliary engines, as well as the TAR plant for treating waste water.

Equally, it will include a number of improvements aimed at reducing its weight, new equipment resulting from obsolescence, adaptation for a bigger crew, and the implementation of the current regulation about operative security and safety.

Its main missions are the following:

• Protecting and escorting other ships
• Sea traffic control
• Controlling and neutralizing terrorist attacks and piracy
• Fighting drug smuggling and human trafficking
• Search and rescue at sea
• Providing support to humanitarian relief actions
• Controlling the implementation of the law regarding fishing
• Controlling the environmental and antipollution law

Time lapse video link about the construction of the Audaz since the laying of its keel on April: https://youtu.be/KNQg-ngM94A

About NAVANTIA:

NAVANTIA constitutes a world reference in the design, construction and integration of warships with a high-technological content, as well as ship repairs and upgrades. Besides, its activity lines include the design and manufacturing of combat and command and control systems, integrated platform management systems, firing control systems, propulsion engines and the Life Cycle Support for all its products. Although its main activity is in the naval field, NAVANTIA also designs and manufactures systems for the Army and the Air Force.

NAVANTIA belongs to Grupo SEPI, a corporate holding which includes a total of 15 state-owned companies in which it has direct, majority shareholding participations, with a workforce of more than 73,000 professionals in 2015; the Spanish state-owned television and radio corporation, Corporación Radiotelevisión Española, which is attached to SEPI, and one public foundation. Equally, SEPI has direct minority shareholdings in a further nine companies, and indirect shareholdings in more than one hundred companies.