The Diplomat
Navantia yesterday commemorated ten years since it signed a first contract with the United States for the maintenance of the US Navy DDG-51 class ships deployed at the Rota Naval Base in Cadiz, which form part of NATO’s anti-missile system.
The contract was agreed in 2013 and established that the Spanish public shipyards would be responsible for the repair and maintenance of the four US destroyers that were to arrive at Rota, a key base for the anti-missile system, allowing effective anti-aircraft, anti-submarine, anti-surface and strike operations in high-threat environments.
In a press release issued yesterday, the Spanish shipping company assures that it “has achieved one hundred percent effectiveness in the fulfilment of each and every one of the orders” of this contract with an “excellent” level recognised by the US Navy, the US Navy.
It also recalls that the contract has meant “ten years of joint work between the US Navy and Navantia with the support of the Spanish Navy”, and adds that, during this time, the activity carried out by the company in the maintenance and modernisation of the US ships deployed “has grown in scope, complexity and specialisation”.
In 2021, Navantia was also the company selected in the tender process carried out by the US to repair and maintain the destroyers and other ships deployed in Rota in a new contract worth 822 million euros that guarantees around 1,000 jobs per year until 2028.
