Almost two years after the “Baden-Württemberg” (F222) and eleven months after the “North Rhine-Westphalia” (F 223), the German Navy will put the third frigate of the F125 class into service on May 17, 2021. Like her sister ships, the “Sachsen-Anhalt” (F 224) will belong to operational flotilla 2 at the Wilhelmshaven naval base.
“I am very pleased about the commissioning of the third of four units. We urgently need the unit, on the one hand, to relieve our existing units of obligations and, on the other hand, to use this platform to train our crews due to the lack of training infrastructure on land,” explains Flotilla Admiral Ralf Kuchler, commander of Operational Flotilla 2.
Due to the current Covid-19 situation, “Saxony-Anhalt” is being put into service on a small scale. The guests include, among others, the Prime Minister of the ship's sponsoring country, Reiner Haseloff, the Bundestag's Defense Commissioner, Eva Högl, and MP Siemtje Möller, defense policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group.
In the Ministry of Defense's current arms report, the frigate F125 armament program is the sad leader among systems that have gotten out of control compared to financial planning. Compared to the 25 million euro proposal approved by the Bundestag, the project has become 1.117 billion euros more expensive. This corresponds to an increase of 51 percent.
On June 20, 2007, the Bundestag's Budget Committee approved the construction of four class F125 frigates worth 2.6 billion euros. Construction of the type ship began on May 9, 2011. The “Saxony-Anhalt” was launched on March 4, 2016 in Hamburg by the Prime Minister’s wifePure Haseloff, Gabriele Haseloff, baptized.
According to the Federal Government's 12th armaments report, the completion of the F125 frigate has been delayed by 67 months compared to the planning submitted to parliament. This corresponds to an increase of 73%. The reason for the delay - the 8th Armaments Report spoke of 51 months - is the change in the calculation: whereas the start of delivery was previously considered the deadline, it is now the initial operational capability (Initial Operational Capability). Compared to the armaments report from spring 2020, the delay has been reduced by 38 months! The reason for this is that, among other things, new delivery dates were agreed.
Due to the required intensive use (i.e. two years of downtime in use, 5,000 operating hours per year, worldwide use; operational maintenance period standard (BEPN) 68 months, implementation of a two-crew concept), the operational management and maintenance of the ship and the equipment are at the same time low crew size (crew size of 120 women and men) are of great importance. This required new technical concepts for maintenance and maintaining functionality as well as for the design of the systems operated. A large number of the systems and subsystems are new developments and have been individually designed for this class. For example, 28,000 sensors enable a very high level of automation. The CODLAG propulsion system, which essentially consists of electric traction motors fed by diesel engines, is a new introduction to the Navy. The challenge is underlined by the impressive number of amendments. The 12th Armaments Report from December 2020 lists 194 amendments.
To classify cost increases and delays
Cost increases for defense programs are due to changes in performance, contractually agreed price escalation, price type conversion, exchange rate changes and non-attributable causes. The Federal Ministry of Defense's 12th report on armaments matters (December 2020) lists cost increases of 7.994 billion euros due to price escalation for all armaments programs. In addition, performance improvements and performance changes for all armaments projects accumulate to around 3.339 billion euros. These changes are based on additional services responding to military and technological developments during the procurement process. In principle, the financial requirement can also be reduced, for example if the original requirement no longer applies or if it is not technically feasible. Non-attributable causes result in an additional requirement of 1.669 billion euros.
The deviation from the current budgetary representation of all ongoing armament projects evaluated in the 12th Armaments Report amounts to 13.745 billion euros in 2020, which is around 27% compared to the original estimate of the projects at the start of the project - i.e. the first 25 million euro template.)
For example, the costs for the A400M transport aircraft, which was approved by the Budget Committee in 2003, increased by 1.627 billion euros, which corresponds to an increase of 19%. For the Eurofighter, which was discussed in parliament in 1988, the costs increased by 7.671 billion euros - that is. 29%. For Puma, which was approved by parliament in 2002, costs increased by 1.393 billion euros - that's 36%. For the NH90 TTH, which passed through parliament in 2000, costs increased by 1.331 billion euros - that's 32%, almost a third.
The development and procurement time was also not met. The A400M came 148 months later, the NH90 TTH – 134 months, the Puma – 61 months. On average, the armaments projects took 53 months longer than stated during the first parliamentary discussion.
Details about class F 125
| Units:
|
· F 222 – “Baden-Württemberg” · F 223 “North Rhine-Westphalia” · F 224 „Sachsen-Anhalt“  · F 225 “Rhineland-Palatinate” |
| Length: | 149.6 m |
| Width: | 18.8 m |
| Draft: | 5,4 m |
| Top speed: | > 26 kn |
| Drive: | CODLAG (Combined Diesel-eLectric And Gas Turbine) |
| Displacement: | about 7100 t |
| Crew: | max. 190 people (including up to 120 permanent crew members) |
| sensors: | · 4-surface C-band radar (3-D) · Friend/Foe Detection (IFF) · Electronic support measures · Electronic target detection · Automated 360-degree infrared monitoring · Diver detection sonar |
| Effectors: | · 1 x 127mm naval gun · 2 x 27mm light naval gun · 5 x 12.7mm machine gun, automated · 2 x quadruple launchers for HARPOON anti-ship missiles · 2 x close range anti-aircraft system RAM · 4 x decoy launchers · Hand weapons · four BUSTER emergency boats · two onboard helicopters · two container parking spaces |
Hans Uwe Mergener
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