Sebastian Schulte, Bonn - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
17 October 2016
Germany will buy an additional five K130 type corvettes in 2017 to offset delays to the MKS 180 Multi-Role Combat Ships (MRCSs) programme, the German coalition government announced on 14 October.
"To meet new security needs in the Baltic Sea, in the Mediterranean Sea, and globally, the coalition plans to buy five new corvettes for EUR1.5 billion [USD1.64 billion] for the German Navy," the two rapporteurs for the ruling coalition on the influential parliamentary budget committee, Johannes Kahrs and Eckhard Rehberg, said in a joint statement.
The news follows the German Ministry of Defence (MoD) notifying parliament in early October that the final contract negotiations concerning the planned four MKS 180 MRCSs needed to be extended, delaying the project by six months.
A new EUR1.5 billion budget line for the programme will be added into the 2017 defence budget. It has been suggested that the five ships will be funded by drawing on the MKS 180 budget and an increase of the defence budget. The repurposing of MKS 180 funds towards the new batch of K130s will be introduced into the final reading of the upcoming 2017 budget in November. The first two corvettes are expected to be delivered in 2019, with the remaining three ships to follow in 2023.
The delay does not spell the end of the MKS 180 programme, but means it will be up to the incoming government and new parliament (following the federal elections in late 2017) to re-evaluate the project. IHS Jane's understands that both the German Navy and the MoD
intend to stick with the planned four, plus an optional extra two, MKS 180 ships. The plan to build more K130 corvettes is thus an attempt to both prevent capability gaps resulting from delays to the MKS 180 project and to increase platform numbers at the same time.
Original post: janes
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K130 Braunschweig class Corvette
The K130 Braunschweig class (sometimes Korvette 130) isGermany's newest class of ocean-going corvettes. They supplement the Gepard-class fast attack craft that are currently in service.
In May 2015 the Israeli Government ordered four Sa'ar 6-class corvettes, whose design by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems will be loosely based on that of the Braunschweig-class corvette, but with engineering changes to render the baseline platform more militarily robust. In October 2016 it was announced that the German Navy will receive a second batch with five more corvettes from 2019-2023 - probably with some modifications.
Technical details
They feature reduced radar and infra-red signature ("stealth" beyond the Sachsen-class frigates) and will be equipped with two helicopter UAVs for remote sensing. Recently, the German Navy ordered a first batch of 6 Camcopter S-100 UAVs for the use on the Braunschweig-class corvettes. Also the German Army plans to procure the Camcopter S-100 for land-based missions. The hangar is too small for standard helicopters, but the pad is large enough for Sea Kings, Lynx or NH-90s, the helicopters of the German Navy.
Originally the K130 class was supposed to be armed with the naval version of the Polyphem missile, an optical fiber-guided missile with a range of 60 kilometres (37 mi), which at the time was under development. The Polyphem program was canceled in 2003 and instead the designers chose to equip the class with the RBS-15. While the RBS-15 has a much greater range (250 kilometres (160 mi)), the current version mounted on the ships, Mk3, lacks the ECM-resistant video feedback of the Polyphem. The German Navy has ordered the RBS-15 Mk4 in advance, which will be a future development of the Mk3 with increased range (400 kilometres (250 mi)) and a dual seeker for increased resistance to electronic countermeasures
Ships in class
The ships were not actually built at a single shipyard. Sections were constructed at different locations at the same time and later married together. The table lists the yard where the keel-laying ceremonies were held. Due to the decommissioning of the Gepard-class 5 addionally planned 2019-2023.
| Name | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Status | ||
| F260 | 3 December 2004 | 19 April 2006 | 16 April 2008 | In active service | ||
| F261 | 19 May 2005 | 6 September 2006 | 22 September 2008 | In active service | ||
| F262 | 22 September 2005 | 29 March 2007 | 28 February 2013 | In active service | ||
| F263 | 19 January 2006 | 28 June 2007 | 21 January 2013 | In active service | ||
| F264 | 14 April 2006 | 26 September 2007 | 21 March 2013 | In active |
| Corvette Magdeburg (F 261) | |
| Class overview | |
| Operators: | |
| Built: | 2004–2007 |
| In commission: | 2008– |
| Planned: | 10 |
| Completed: | 5 |
| Active: | 5 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | |
| Displacement: | 1,840 tonnes (1,810 long tons) |
| Length: | 89.12 m (292 ft 5 in) |
| Beam: | 13.28 m (43 ft 7 in) |
| Draft: | 3.4 m (11 ft 2 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 MTU 20V 1163 TB 93 diesel engines producing 14.8MW, driving two controllable-pitch propellers. |
| Speed: | 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph) |
| Range: | 4,000 nmi (7,400 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Endurance: | 21 days; 63 days with tender |
| Complement: | 65 : 1 commander, 10officers, 16 chief petty officers, 38 enlisted |
| Sensors and processing systems: | |
| Electronic warfare & decoys: |
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| Armament: |
|
| Aircraft carried: | Helicopter pad and hangar for two Camcopter S-100 |
Source: wikiwand
