• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Deutsche Marine - Modernization

As part of the realignment of the Bundeswehr all ongoing defense projects were reviewed in 2011. Accordingly, various courses of action were developed in the Department of Defense. The overall objective is to adequately equip the Bundeswehr from the deployment and simultaneously to gain free space planning for future projects. The Defence Minister Thomas de Maizière approved on 14 October 2011 a plan that included both a change in the number of weapons to be procured as well as a reduction of the already deployed weapons systems.

The Navy would operate as planned eight maritime patrol aircraft P-3C Orion. In the Marine helicopters 30 new instead of existing Seaking 21 and 22 Sea Lynx are planned. The number of frigates F123 remains at four, the three at the F124 and F125 at the four. The eight F122 however were to be decommissioned. The plans for the new multi-purpose combat ship 180 were changed from eight to six units. The number of planned Corvettes remained at five and U212 submarines at six.

By 2015 there was an impending shortage of materiel. In the medium term, almost every other ship is to be decommissioned. So, among other things, all the speed boats in the fleet disappear, and the number of minesweepers is to be reduced to half. From 2012-2015 five frigates were scrapped, and by 2020 a further three. The four successor models are available from 2017 at the earliest, more likely later. By 2016 eight speedboats and ten mine warfare boats also go out of service. According to the plans of the Defense Ministry, the Navy would in future feature only be about 50 "floating units", including all supply ships.

The Speedboats were for decades the workhorses of the Navy. Lovingly they were also called "Baltic-Rocker," "sauce-boat" or "S-Pütz". Now the last eight speedboats would be out of service at the end of 2016. Until then, they were used for training purposes. Once the speed boats were designed under the influence of the East-West conflict for the Baltic Sea. With the political turn, the tasks of the Navy have changed. Now the security of international sea routes would be monitored, such as in the Atalanta mission. Therefore, the average 30-year old speedboats are replaced by modern corvettes. The corvettes "Braunschweig" class K 130 are optimized for the tasks in the marginal seas and coastal waters.

The Navy would improve its future robustness and sustainability with the Type K-130 corvettes. The corvettes would be capable of precision target engagement ashore, thus supporting joint operations from the sea. The Type F125 frigates would be a completely new type of vessel, designed especially for prolonged stabilisation operations. Thanks to innovative concepts for operational deployment, the ship would be able to remain on station in the area of operations for up to two years.

Type 212A submarines would maintain a capability for submarine operations in the long term. Their capabilities include antisurface operations, insertion of special forces, plus intelligence collection and reconnaissance. These submarines, together with the P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, frigates, and shipborne helicopters needed for effective engagement of submarines, make up a three-dimensional antisubmarine warfare net.

With its Type 702 combat support ships the German Navy ensures logistic and medical support for prolonged operations. Combat support ships can also be used to support joint operations, as well as humanitarian assistance and evacuation operations. What is more, they can serve as a command platform during joint operations. Depending on the type of operation necessary, they can be equipped with an operations centre, or alternatively, with a mobile naval surgical hospital.

The procurement of the MH-90 naval helicopter would mean the future availability of powerful and efficient shipboard helicopters for the German Navy. The Type F124 frigates have improved the Navy’s air defence capabilities against aircraft and missiles and contribute to maritime theatre ballistic missile defence. They thus help to protect own forces, the civilian population, economic centres and conurbations on land.

In early March 2023, the Bundeswehr published an outline of the German naval force goals in 2035, called the Navy's 2035 target posture (Zielbild der Marine ab 2035); the German Wehrmacht subsequently withdrew this outline. The post stated that the content was not fully completed and was published due to an error. According to this 2035 plan, the German Navy's main operating areas include the North Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic Sea; in addition to a significant increase in the number of main battleships, it also significantly increases the number of unmanned vehicles (including air and underwater). In this plan, the German Navy's main battle force in 2035 includes:

1. 6 F127 large air defense ships (displacement of 10,000 tons) to replace the three F124s currently in service (the original plan was to build 5 ships in 2031)
2. 6 F126 anti-submarine/general frigates would replace the current F123 frigates
3. 3 F125 frigates, which have been delivered one after another since the late 2010s, have many problems and have weak firepower, may be decommissioned early and reduced from the original four to three by 2035.
4. K130 light frigates: Germany has ordered two batches of five K130s each since the 2000s (the first five ships were in service from 2008 to 2013). Due to serious delays, Germany did not start construction of the second batch until the late 2010s. By 2035, the number of ships scheduled to be in active service may drop to 6 to 9 (the earliest K130 may begin to be retired).
5. A light stealth patrol ship smaller than K130. It is planned to build 18 ships.
6. In terms of diesel-electric submarines, the previous plan was to build 8 ships in 2031, but now it was changed to 6 to 9 ships in 2031, and they would be matched with 6 large underwater unmanned vehicles.
7. In terms of large fixed-wing aircraft, it plans to have 8 P-8A ocean patrol aircraft in 2035 (currently 5 have been confirmed to be purchased) and 6 large long-range unmanned aerial vehicles to perform ocean patrol and anti-submarine missions.
8. In terms of rotorcraft, it was previously planned to equip 31 NH-90 Sea Tiger carrier-based anti-submarine helicopters in 2031. The number may be significantly reduced in the new plan; and the number of NH-90 transport type (called Sea Lion in Germany) is also The original order of 18 aircraft in 2031 has been slightly reduced to 17 aircraft in 2035. In addition, the number of light multifunctional carrier-based unmanned rotorcraft (Skeldar V-200) has increased significantly from the original plan of 10 units in 2031 to 22 units in 2035.

Although the German Navy hoped to build a total of 6 F127s, by early September 2024, news pointed out that the German government only planned to purchase five ships at that time, and the budget had not yet been obtained at this time.