The difficulties in the construction program for the German Navy’s new F126 Niedersachsen-class frigates have been known since at least the beginning of last year. The 19th Armaments Report, released by the German Ministry of Defence in early 2024, cites IT-related issues between the main contractor, Damen Naval, and its subcontractors as the primary cause of production delays. According to the report, the time-related impact on the overall project could still be compensated for at the time.
By Lars Hoffmann / Hartpunkt.
According to the Bundeswehr, the F126 frigates will be capable of operating worldwide and will be fully capable of three-dimensional naval warfare. The frigates are 167 meters long, approximately 21 meters wide, and have a displacement of approximately 10,000 tons. With a crew of 125 personnel, the ships will be capable of conducting three-dimensional (air, surface, and underwater) naval warfare across the entire intensity spectrum worldwide. Their key tasks include maritime surveillance, enforcing embargoes, supporting special forces, and conducting evacuation operations. Their mission performance will be supported by the installation of special mission modules, which allow the ship to be adapted for specific missions using standardized equipment and personnel packages.
However, the situation with the multi-billion dollar project has since deteriorated further. As a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense stated upon inquiry, the Dutch Damen shipyard has announced a delayed delivery of the ships due to problems with IT interfaces in the company’s proprietary design and manufacturing software. According to insiders, this led, among other things, to significant remedial work at the project’s German shipyards. The first ship of the new class was scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in 2028.
“We are in constant communication with the civilian and government stakeholders to provide the best possible support in developing solutions,” said the MoD spokesperson. At this point, the ministry assumes that the project can be continued, albeit with delays. The spokesperson declined to provide any details on timelines or cost increases.
While the ministry apparently doesn’t want to write off the project just yet, the mood among some politicians has reached a tipping point. Bastian Ernst, in charge of naval topics in the Bundestag’s Defense Committee for the CDU/CSU (Christian Democratic Union of Germany) parliamentary group, sees such serious problems with the F126 shipbuilding program that he is calling for it to be canceled and readjusted. “We shouldn’t try to keep the project alive with even more money,” he said in an interview with hartpunkt. Of the additional €320 million that the federal government granted the Damen shipyard last year as inflation compensation for the first four ships of the class, nothing has yet reached the German subcontractors, complains the CDU politician, whose constituency includes several naval shipyards. According to his information, the delay could possibly be up to 48 months. This assessment is shared by the shipbuilding industry. Ernst would like to see new plans with German shipyards following the cancellation of the project. According to information from hartpunkt, there is also sympathy for the proposal within the SPD. Observers say the local shipyards are certainly capable of implementing a Plan B. Given the Russian threat, the key issue is likely to be the time factor.
At the beginning of 2020, Damen Naval emerged as the winner of a European tender for the multi-role combat ship 180 – later renamed F126 – after three rounds of bidding, with German Naval Yards Kiel (GNYK) remaining in the running until the final round. A consortium consisting of TKMS and NVL had already been eliminated, partly because it had offered too high a price. German Naval Yards and TKMS then entered into a partnership at short notice for the final round. The contract for the largest combat ships planned for the Navy after World War II nevertheless went abroad. In addition to the four firm orders, the contract at the time included an option for two additional ships. This option was exercised last year for 3.1 billion euros, meaning that six ships of this class are now planned for the Navy.
In order to achieve at least 70 percent German added value in the project, general contractor Damen has commissioned the Blohm+Voss and Peene-Werft shipyards, which are part of NVL, as well as German Naval Yards as subcontractors for production. Construction of the first ship began at the Peene-Werft in Wolgast at the end of 2023, and the keel laying of the lead ship, the “Niedersachsen,” took place the following June. Little seems to have happened since then. According to media reports, German Naval Yards, which presumably still has its design draft for the MKS 180 in the drawer, had to accept another contract to utilize its own capacities. The original plan was to manufacture the fore sections of the new frigates at German Naval Yards in Kiel and then connect them there with the aft section built in Wolgast. The next plan was to tow the hull of the F 126 to Blohm + Voss in Hamburg for final outfitting.
As Wirtschaftswoche (a weekly industry magazine in Germany) reports in its current issue, Damen Naval is said to be facing financial difficulties due to the delay in the German frigate program. Typically, payments from the client are only made after so-called project milestones have been reached. According to Dutch media, the parliament in The Hague has already approved financial support for the largest Dutch shipbuilder, which is expected to make a significant contribution to the modernization of its own navy. According to Wirtschaftswoche, Germany and the Netherlands are already negotiating contract changes to save the project. It now remains to be seen whether the problems can be resolved this way.
This article by Lars Hoffman was originally published in German language at Hartpunkt.de. It has been translated and republished with authorization.
