German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius plans to halt the construction project of F126-type frigates intended for the country’s Navy.
According to sea-news.az referencing “Spiegel” magazine, the Ministry of Defense does not intend to continue this project, which is considered one of the largest armament programs in the history of the German Navy.
The program, which envisions the construction of a total of six warships, was initially entrusted to the Dutch shipbuilding company “Damen Naval.” However, due to serious delays in the execution of works and the risks of contract termination, transferring the function of prime contractor to the German “Rheinmetall” concern was being discussed. Although “Rheinmetall” proposed to complete the construction of the frigates for approximately 13 billion euros, the government is attempting to optimize these costs. It should be noted that more than 2 billion euros have been spent from the internal budget so far on the project, which was launched in 2020.
According to the information, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is currently considering the option of completely abandoning the project. As an alternative step, the ministry plans to procure “Meko-200” type frigates for the Bundeswehr, which are manufactured by TKMS, another giant German naval corporation. “Spiegel” emphasized that this new approach is also strongly supported by the leadership of the German Navy.
