GRU
Military Intelligence Directorate
Intel Report
The Fridtjof Nansen-class frigate
Report filed: Jan. 1, 2010
This is a new class of AEGIS frigate that was initially built by Spain, known as the F-100, the first of the class being the Alvaro de Bazán. Norway contracted for 5 of these ships to be delivered by 2005, but only received four due to budget cuts. While the first of the two ships was built in Spain the building of the second ship eventually shifted over to Norway after 2005.
The 433-foot ships, despite the capabilities inherent in their Aegis systems, will not carry Standard-series surface-to-air missiles but instead will be fitted with eight cells to carry a total of only 32 Evolved Sea Sparrow self-defense weapons. Other armament is intended to be eight Norwegian NSM antiship missiles, a single 76-mm OTOBreda gun, and four antisubmarine torpedo tubes, and there will be facilities for a single helicopter.
As of December 31, 2009, the Royal Norwegian Navy (RNN) deployed two Nansen class frigates to the Baltic which are stationed near Oslo. The other two are currently ported in Bergen, but one of them appears to be undergoing maintenance. The one that is operational, Kristiansand, is about to take the place of the FFG Trondheim in NATO's STANAVFORLANT patrol.
For more background information about this ship, see the following article on the status of Spain's F-100 frigate that was publishd in the year 2001.
