ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) has christened the third of four F125-class frigates for the German Navy at its Hamburg facility.
Scheduled to be delivered to German defence procurement agency BAAINBw in early 2019, the ship named as Sachsen-Anhalt is being developed by TKMS-led ARGE F125 consortium. Work on this frigate started in June 2014.
Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems supervisory board chairman and ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems Management Board member Dr Hans Christoph Atzpodien said: "The F125 frigate class is a completely new type of ship. With numerous innovations and a multiple-crew strategy it is a further showcase for the leading engineering expertise of German naval shipbuilding."
Work under the contract, including construction of the stern sections, joining of two sections and further fitting out, is being performed at Blohm+Voss Shipyards in Hamburg, Germany.
The four F125 vessels will replace the German Navy’s existing F122 Bremen-class ships. The ships will be developed specially for current and future deployment scenarios for the navy.
Capable of remaining at sea for 24 months, the 149m-long and 18m-wide ships can be deployed for conflict prevention, crisis management and intervention/stabilisation operations in the international arena, as well as for the traditional tasks of national and alliance defence.
Integrated with two 21-cell Mk49 launchers, the Baden-Württemberg-class ships are also armed with the Raytheon RIM-116 rolling airframe missiles (RAM) and can operate the NH-90 helicopters.
The 7,000t vessels can cruise at a maximum speed of 26k using new combined diesel electric and gas (CODLAG) electrical propulsion system with a General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine, four MTU 20V 4000 M53B diesel engines and two Siemens electric motors.
