Late and overweight - Germany's new frigates
found wanting
Fri May 12, 2017 | 4:31pm BST
By Sabine Siebold | BERLIN
Germany's much-delayed new frigates, built by
ThyssenKrupp (TKAG.DE)
and Luerssen for at least 650 million euros (£551.4 million) apiece, are
overweight and float with a persistent list to starboard, according to a
confidential report seen by Reuters.
The ships, designed to need a crew of only
120, less than half their predecessors, are a crucial element in Germany's
plans to beef up its military to face an increasingly uncertain European
security landscape and a more assertive Russia.
Designed to remain at sea for far longer than
the German armed forces' existing fleet, the new F125 frigates need extensive
servicing only once every two years, compared to once every nine months for
their predecessors.
The 1.3 degree starboard list and excess
weight, which emerged during testing in September, means the ship is now close
to the limit of its design parameters and will raise the class's lifetime
maintenance costs by around 20 million euros, according to a confidential annex
to a regular German defence ministry report.
A defence ministry spokeswoman declined to
comment on the confidential report, but said "in general terms" that
the development of the four ships, the first of which was to have been
delivered in 2014, remained on track.
"The design and performance parameters
will be met," she said, adding that a certain degree of listing could
never be ruled out when building new ships. "In the case of the F125,
appropriate counter-measures have been agreed with industry."
Shipbuilding company Luerssen referred
queries regarding the report to ThyssenKrupp, whose spokeswoman said: "We
do not comment on current client projects."
(Reporting By Sabine Siebold; Writing by
Thomas Escritt; Editing by Alison Williams and Mark Trevelyan)
Original post: reuters.com
Related news:
F125 Baden-Württemberg Class Frigate: Details
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