The German F127 next generation AAW frigate is slowly taking shape. The DoD initiated first steps for a possible acquisition of the AEGIS combat management system and associated hardware. Furthermore German builder Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems (TKMS) has provided more details on the related A-400 AMD baseline design. The German Navy intends to build up to six F127 AAW frigates. The ships will replace the current three F124 combatants known in service as the Sachsen-class.
NAVSEA solicitation for AEGIS-integration on F127
The US Navy NAVSEA office on July 02 released a pre-solicitation document regarding AEGIS-integration for a variety of platforms including the future German F127 frigate via the SAM.gov government contracting platform. The document itself does not reveal any substantial information on F127. However, the solicitation seeks contractors capable of providing on-site ship integration work and testing for the “future AEGIS based surface combatant F127 ship class“.
The request is part of a wider tender also concerning AEGIS Ashore-facilities and Spanish naval combatants. Notably, while the document seeks builders to be capable of travelling to Cadiz in support of Navantia as builder for Spanish hulls, it does not out identify particular German locations such as Kiel, home of German yard TKMS. The reason for this is likely that the German effort around F127 has not yet nominally selected a builder with associated work locations.
MEKO A-400 AMD as TKMS baseline for new frigate
In related news TKMS released more substantial information on what the builder calls the A-400 Air Missile Defense (AMD) frigate. The design itself does not represent the precise configuration preferred by the German Navy for F127. Nevertheless TKMS promotes the ship as baseline configuration for a bid by TKMS to build the F124-successor.
The MEKO A-400 AMD design has a displacement of 10,000 tons. The hull length is 160 m with a beam of 21 m and a draft of 5.5 m. These figures represent a very notable size increase over the company’s existing F125 design, promoted for export as MEKO A 400. Propulsion is not specified but appears to feature two gas turbines and two diesel engines. This arrangement allows a top speed of 32 knots. The range is 4,000 nautical miles with an endurance of more than 30 days.
AEGIS is the specified combat management system. A-400 AMD features four large AESA panels resembling Raytheon’s AN/SPY-6, in addition to smaller panels for a possible X-band AESA. Selection of AN/SPY-6 by TKMS stands in contrast to Lockheed Martin’s AN/SPY-7. The Lockheed Martin-developed radar is used by the Spanish F110-frigate. Canada also selected the system for their new “River”-class destroyer, known as the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC).
TKMS notably makes no mention of the CMS-330 combat management system. German media previously reported Berlin was evaluating the Lockheed Martin Canada-designed CMS-330. A key motivation would be to more easily integrate further non-US sourced weaponry and equipment. Canada earlier selected CMS-330 among other things for integrating Sea Ceptor SAM on the CSC. However, the most recent government-issued fact sheet on the River-class appears to have dropped Sea Ceptor. Instead the Canadian design now uses the RIM-116 RAM. Unlike Sea Ceptor RAM is already integrated with AEGIS on American and foreign naval combatants. It is not clear at present whether the publication made a mistake or represents a change in specification for the Canadian destroyer design.
MEKO design to double VLS count compared to F124
For armament the TKMS-design offers 64 cells for the Mk 41 VLS, set up in two groups of 32 cells on the bow and amidships. The ship also carries two quadruple box launchers for eight rounds of the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), the new standard frigate ASuW armament of the German Navy. In addition two 21 round Mk 144 launchers for RAM sit ahead of the bridge and on the hangar, which accommodates two helicopters. Gun armament includes a 127 mm gun forward, medium calibre autocannons amidships and remote controlled machine guns forward and aft.
Last but not least the design includes notable innovations such as two laser weapons forward and aft. The turrets resemble Rheinmetall’s DEW prototype for close range air defence. The ship also features an “inverted bow”-design similar to the American Zumwalt-class destroyer and an increasing number of foreign designs. Nevertheless, as noted, A-400 AMD as advertised does not resemble the final configuration for the German F127 AAW frigate. Therefore more unusual design traits may not make it into the final design selected by Germany. Armament may also change, including the number of VLS-cells or the suggested radar-configuration.