German lawmakers approve funds for eight-ship fleet of sub-hunting frigates

VIENNA — German lawmakers on Thursday approved the acquisition of four additional MEKO A-200 DEU frigates from shipbuilder TKMS, bringing Berlin’s planned fleet to eight ships after the government abandoned its troubled F126 program.

The Bundestag budget committee had approved the first four vessels July 8, alongside an option for four more. The Defense Ministry said the decision to exercise that option will give the German Navy a single, eight-ship class intended chiefly for anti-submarine warfare.

Delivery of the first vessel is set for 2029, the agency said in a statement. The ships will support NATO missions in the Baltic and North seas, the Atlantic and the High North, according to the announcement.

Berlin selected the MEKO design after withdrawing from its contract with Damen Naval for six F126 frigates, which had initially been intended to supply the Navy’s future anti-submarine warfare capability. The ministry attributed its withdrawal to “considerable performance problems” by Damen, saying it had completed a broader assessment before terminating the arrangement.

The program change has already triggered a costly dispute. Damen is seeking €4.7 billion ($5.3 billion) in damages from the German government, arguing that Berlin’s termination was politically motivated and legally unfounded, Der Spiegel reported last week. The F126 effort had already cost Germany more than €2 billion without delivering a ship, according to public broadcaster ARD .

The initial four-ship MEKO purchase carried a reported €6.3 billion price tag, while the four-ship option was valued at €5.3 billion. Reuters reported that the second tranche, including project support and reserves, would cost roughly €5.6 billion; the projected operating costs for those four vessels through 2045 amount to another €1.55 billion.

The Defense Ministry argued that selecting one ship type should simplify training, maintenance and logistics. It also said variants of the MEKO A-200 are already in service with allied navies.

TKMS described the envisioned eight-ship production run as the company’s largest-ever surface vessel contract.

“With the four frigates already on order, the program has entered the implementation phase,” the shipbuilder said in a statement.

As part of its post-2022 buildup, the German military has put a heavy emphasis on anti-submarine warfare abilities in the Baltic, North Sea and, especially since the crisis over Greenland, in the Arctic. The F-126 was meant to be an integral part of this strategy. Other, more successful, procurements aimed at combating submarines include the Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime-surveillance aircraft, the first of which landed in Germany almost exactly a year ago.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

维也纳——德国议员周四批准从造船商TKMS购买四艘MEKO A-200 DEU护卫舰，使柏林计划的舰队规模达到八艘，此前政府放弃了陷入困境的F126计划。

德国联邦议院预算委员会于7月8日批准了首批四艘舰艇的建造计划，并保留了增建四艘的选项。国防部表示，行使增建选项将使德国海军拥有一个单一的八艘舰艇的舰级，主要用于反潜作战。

该机构在一份声明中表示，首艘舰艇预计将于2029年交付。声明还指出，这些舰艇将支持北约在波罗的海、北海、大西洋和高北地区的行动。

柏林方面在终止与达门海军公司（Damen Naval）的六艘F126型护卫舰建造合同后，选择了MEKO的设计方案。这些护卫舰最初计划用于提升海军未来的反潜作战能力。德国国防部将终止合同归咎于达门公司“严重的性能问题”，并表示在终止合作前已完成全面的评估。

该项目变更已引发一场代价高昂的纠纷。据《明镜周刊》上周报道，达门公司正向德国政府索赔47亿欧元（约合53亿美元），理由是柏林终止该项目是出于政治动机且缺乏法律依据。据德国公共广播公司ARD报道，F126项目已耗费德国超过20亿欧元，却未能交付一艘舰艇。

据报道，MEKO公司最初购买的四艘船舶总价为63亿欧元，而另外四艘船舶的选购权价值53亿欧元。路透社报道称，第二批款项，包括项目支持和储备金，预计耗资约56亿欧元；这四艘船舶到2045年的预计运营成本将达到15.5亿欧元。

国防部认为，选择一种舰艇类型可以简化训练、维护和后勤保障。国防部还表示，MEKO A-200的衍生型号已经在盟国海军服役。

TKMS 将计划建造的八艘舰艇描述为该公司有史以来最大的水面舰艇合同。

“随着四艘护卫舰的订单已经下达，该项目已进入实施阶段，”造船厂在一份声明中表示。

作为2022年后军事建设的一部分，德国军方高度重视在波罗的海、北海以及（尤其是在格陵兰危机之后）北极地区的反潜作战能力。F-126战斗机原本是这一战略的重要组成部分。其他旨在打击潜艇的采购项目，例如波音P-8A“海神”海上巡逻机，也取得了更大的成功，首架P-8A于大约一年前交付德国。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。