Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) handed over the fourth and final F125 frigate “RHEINLAND-PFALZ” to the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) in Hamburg last week.
With that, all four ships of the F125 class, which TKMS built together with the NVL Group in the ARGE F125 consortium, have been successfully delivered, the company said in a release.
F125 ships are 149m long, displace approximately 7,200 tonnes and can attain speeds of 26 knots. They can accommodate 190 people of which 126 are regular crew.
The first ship of the F125 class is scheduled to enter service in mid-2023. In order to create the necessary conditions for this phase, a comprehensive support contract regarding the technical logistic support (TLS) for the F125 frigates was concluded between ARGE F125 and the BAAINBw at the end of last year.
The completely redesigned vessels of the F125 class have highly complex systems and around 28,000 sensors that enable a very high degree of automation, making it possible to reduce the required number of crew members by about half compared to previous frigate classes. Moreover, the ships can remain in their theatre of operations for up to two years. Besides the traditional tasks of national and alliance defence, they are designed for conflict prevention and crisis management as well as for intervention and stabilization operations in an international context. In addition to the ability to engage targets both on land and on water, they are equipped with air defence systems and helicopters.