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A SPANISH Naval Captain has revealed that his frigate’s mission is to protect the British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales from an attack while sailing through Indo-Pacific.
Captain Jaime Muñoz-Delgado Pérez, commanding the frigate Méndez Núñez, explained that his vessel has been handed the crucial job of ‘close air defence’ for the British carrier as part of a joint exercise in naval cooperation.
The Spanish warship has been sailing with the British strike group since April and will continue until August – but this is far from a typical allied naval exercise.
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Instead, the mission is testing whether crews from different nations can actually swap ships and commanders – a radical departure from traditional military cooperation.
“We don’t just want to be interoperable, we want to be totally interchangeable,” Captain Muñoz-Delgado told the Spanish Ministry of Defence.
This means British commodores are now commanding operations from the Spanish frigate – something that would normally only happen with British vessels.
The Spanish captain explained to the audience that his F100 class frigate had been selected for air defence because of its unique antimissile capabilities.
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He said that the ship was entrusted to provide close air defense for the British aircraft carriers. The vessel had proven its reliability through constant operations at sea.
The real innovation is how mixed crews learn to use each other’s equipment, and to follow different command structures.
British personnel works alongside Spanish procedures and systems, while Spanish officers take orders from British officials.
The strike group is now conducting joint exercises in the Indo-Pacific with India, Indonesian, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as New Zealand, Australia and South Korea.
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This is a UK-led deterrence and surveillance mission in the Gibraltar Strait, Eastern Atlantic and usually involves Royal Navy warships.
The main objective of this program is to disrupt and monitor any suspected illegal activity in the international waters surrounding Gibraltar, as well as in the Western Mediterranean, including drug smuggling.
The Spanish frigate has also been fitted with new anti-drone systems – equipment that wasn’t part of its original design but has become essential as warfare evolves.
Tests are conducted with international partners to test these Spanish-made systems in real conditions.
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Captain Muñoz-Delgado admitted the deployment presents unique challenges, particularly when sailing through dangerous waters like the Red Sea and Bab-el-Mandeb strait, where the Spanish crew must simultaneously protect themselves and the British carrier from potential threats.
The 200-strong crew will be living in cramped quarters for five months while operating in tropical heat far from home.
The captain’s biggest challenge is to ensure that Spanish sailors are able to seamlessly integrate into British operations while maintaining the combat readiness of their ship.
The mission represents a significant gamble for European navies – testing whether centuries of national military traditions can be set aside to create truly integrated international fleets capable of operating anywhere in the world.
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