July 17, 2026:
Last month, Germany canceled plans to build six F126 frigates. These ships were supposed to cost about $21 billion in total, nearly double the original price. One F126 was under construction, but that work has been halted workers and materials will be sent to other projects.
The F126’s were to be the largest warships to serve in the German navy since World War II. The first of the six 10,000-ton F126s was to enter service in 2028. Each ship was supposed to cost about $1.5 billion, but costs kept rising, and by the time of the cancellation, the total was $3.5 billion.
These frigates were to be 177 meters long and have a top speed of about 50 kilometers an hour. Economical cruising speed is 21 kilometers an hour. Max range is 7,400 kilometers at cruising speed. Endurance is 21 days before refueling and resupply is needed. The crew of 114 could be augmented by 84 additional specialist personnel, including special operations troops. There is a full range of electronics, including surface and air search radars as well as fire control radar and sonar for detecting and tracking submarines. Radios include one that uses a satellite link. There are several decoy systems to disrupt the guidance systems on incoming missiles. If that didn’t work, there are several anti-missile systems that use autocannons and missiles. There are also VLS cells for up to 64 anti-aircraft missiles. Eight NSM anti-ship and land attack missiles are carried. There are also two 27mm autocannons and four 12.7 machine guns. There are also non-lethal water cannons and long-range acoustic devices to send warnings to small boats approaching the frigate. Two helicopters and one UAV are carried, along with a hangar to hold them all. The F126 was designed to be continuously deployed for two years without the need for major maintenance. This meant an F126 could operate for 5,000 hours a year, which was 57 percent of the 365 days in a year. Warships tend to spend a lot of time idle in port.
While the F126 was built for combat, its predecessor, the F125 frigates, also contained many innovations. Unfortunately, that resulted in an unexpected and unwanted distinction; the first ship of the class, the Baden-Württemberg, was rejected by the navy after failing to perform during sea trials. The builder quickly addressed the most serious problems, all of which were software related. The Baden-Württemberg finally entered service in 2018.
The Baden-Württemberg did not begin a year of sea trials until the end of 2016. This produced a growing list of problems the builders hustled to fix while also dealing with some of the defects. The list of problems was too long, and the Navy refused to accept or commission the Baden-Württemberg. While this was embarrassing, it was also the right thing to do because otherwise the problems would have become a major scandal.
Not all the problems were made public, if only because some involved new tech that was highly classified. It was known that a new computerized command and control software system for the CIC/Combat Information Center had an unacceptable number of bugs, as did some of the other software for automating operation of the ship and making possible a smaller, by about 50 percent, crew than would normally be needed. The new radar system and other sensors had problems, as did the damage control system. All these were easily fixed. There was also a perceptible 1.3-degree list to starboard, which has since been corrected.
The four F125 frigates each displace 7,200 tons. This is larger than some destroyers, but it's become unfashionable in Europe to call a warship a destroyer. Those attitudes played a role in the failure of the Baden-Württemberg. It was no secret that attracting the best engineering and design talent to warship construction has been difficult. Since the Cold War ended in 1991 and Germany was reunited, it became fashionable to downplay defense in general, and working in the military or defense industries became less popular. Even though these industries remained major employers and Germany continued to export innovative warship designs, the F125s were more innovative than any surface warship Germany had put into service during the last century.
To replace the cancelled F126s, Germany has ordered a dozen A-200 frigates. This is an increase from the original four ordered to become Germany’s contribution to NATO ASW/Anti-Submarine Warfare. Like the F126, the A-200s are built in Germany. There are currently 33 A-200s in service with one retired and more than a dozen on order. These ships have been exported to Turkey, Australia, Greece, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, Algeria, and Egypt. The current cost of an A-200 is about $1.8 billion
The 3,400-ton A-200 is 118 meters long and is propelled by diesel and gas turbine engines. Top speed is 59 kilometers per hour, and max range is 11,000 kilometers at a cruising speed of 33 kilometers per hour. The crew of 220 operates hull-mounted and optional towed array Sonars. There are air-search, surface-search, and navigation radars. There is an EW/Electronic Warfare system and decoys to deal with incoming missiles and torpedoes. There is a 127mm gun and three CIWS\Close-In Weapons Systems to deal with incoming missiles. There are eight VLS tubes for anti-aircraft missiles, plus eight more for Harpoon anti-ship missiles or the Similar RBS-15, which can also hit land targets. A medium-sized helicopter is carried and stored in a hangar.