Construction of the German Navy's first 125-class (F125) frigate has
progressed with the laying-down of the first hull section at the Blohm +
Voss shipyard, Hamburg, Germany.The laying-down follows a three-year design and management phase, plus a six-month production period on the first hull section.
ARGE
F125, a joint venture of ThyssenKrupp Marine System and Friedrich
Lürssen Werft, was awarded a contract for production of four F125
frigates in June 2007.
The 149m-long vessel has a displacement
capacity of 7,000t and can cruise at speeds of 26kt with accommodation
for a crew of 190.
The F125 vessel has been designed for national
and allied defence, peacekeeping initiatives, humanitarian rescue
missions, and to combat terrorism and defend against asymmetric
threats.
Delivery of the first vessel is planned for 2016, with the last vessel scheduled for delivery in 2018.
F125 FRIGATE
The German Navy's new F125 frigate will have the capability to be
deployed worldwide for up to two years before returning to the home base
and can be in operation for up to 5,000 hours a year, including under
tropical conditions.
The main mission of the F125 frigate is taking part in joint
assignments, including multinational assignments in network-centric
operations. The 5,500t displacement frigate has a new and stealthy
design of hull and superstructure, which appears to be based on a highly
modified Meko-D configuration.
The German Navy started to plan a successor for the F122 Bremen Class
frigates in 1997. The German Navy operates eight Bremen Class F122
frigates, which entered service between 1982 and 1990. The concept of the replacement frigates was originally as a
multi-role combatant but, by 2005 the requirement for the F125 was based
on a capability to counter asymmetric threats and perform stabilisation
operations with lethal and non-lethal intervention. The German Navy
announced that the F125 would be armed with land attack systems and air
warfare point-defence equipment but would not be equipped with sonar.
In June 2007, ThyssenKrupp announced the Arge F125 consortium had
been contracted by the Federal Office for Defence Technology and
Procurement (BWB) for four F125 frigates. The Arge F125 consortium
comprises the industrial leader, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (including
Blohm + Voss and Nordseewerke) with Lurssen Werft. Construction began in
May 2011 and delivery of the first of class F125 is scheduled for 2016.
The final vessel is expected to be delivered by 2018.
F125 crew
Each frigate has two crews of typically 105 to 120 people, who are changed every four months. The number of crew represents an approximately 50% reduction in crew
compared to previous generation frigates and is achieved partly through a
high level of automation. The frigate also accommodates 50 special forces and their equipment.
The special forces' transportation can be two helicopters or four armed
boats.
Command and control
In March 2006, EADS was contracted to supply the F125 command and
control and weapons deployment system, FuWES (Fuhrungs-und
Waffeneinsatzsystem). The contract covered the development and delivery
of the system, including the complete software, hardware and
infrastructure and the FuWES testing and performance verification for
all four frigates.
The FuWES system has an open and modular structure allowing
flexibility to accommodate future additional or modified systems. In
order to provide tactical data exchange and a high level of
interoperability with other joint and combined military platforms, the
communications systems, link 11, link 16 and link 22 are integrated into
F125 command and control system. The combat management system is
operated from the Atlas Elektronik OMADA consoles, designed specifically
for the F125.
Integrated bridge and navigation system
Raytheon Anschutz in Kiel, Germany (previously Anschutz & Co, a
subsidiary of Carl Zeiss) was contracted in August 2008 for the supply
of the integrated bridge and navigation system for the F125 frigates.
The integrated bridge and navigation system consists of six
multi-function consoles capable of displaying various functions such as
two X/S-band radars, two electronic chart display and information
systems (ECDIS) and NautoConning navigation data which reads and
displays in a logically arranged manner and distributes the navigation
data.
One of the six consoles is for route planning purposes. The
integrated bridge and navigation system encompasses the ship steering
and control equipment, a Raytheon ring-laser based dual MINS marine
inertial navigation system, two data distribution units and a complete
set of navigational sensors and meteorological equipment. A redundant
laid out Ethernet bus configuration interconnects the multi-function
consoles and sensors.
Weapons
The ship is equipped for defence against air attack and also for land attack. The F125 is also armed with non-lethal weapons, such as water cannons
and searchlights for non-provocative deterrence and defence.
F125 guns
The ship is fitted with ten guns, 12.7mm to 155mm, which allow fast automatic engagement. The BWB awarded Oto Melara contracts for the supply of five 127/64 LW
Alleggerito lightweight naval guns, four for installation on the F125
frigates and the fifth for training.
The gun is installed on the forward gun deck. The turret of the 127/64 Alleggerito has a low radar cross section. The gun has two automatic feeding devices (AFDs), one for the charges
and one for the projectiles, the rounds being automatically assembled
before entering the turret, and can fire long-range Vulcano ammunition.
The guns have a 35-rounds-a-minute rate of fire and a range of 23km
against surface targets and 8.6km against airborne target.
The German Navy has also selected the Oto Melara remote controlled
12.7mm HITROLE naval turret in the naval tilting (NT) option for the
F125. The contract covers the supply of 25 systems, five for
installation of each of the four frigates and five for installation on
land for training.
Missiles
Two quadruple missile launchers for the Boeing RGM-84 Harpoon
anti-ship missile are installed amidship on the missile deck forward of
the funnel. The Harpoon missiles are armed with a 227kg warhead and use
active radar homing. The missiles have a high subsonic speed (Mach 0.9)
and a range of up to 130km.
The F125 has two 21-cell mk49 launchers armed with the Raytheon
RIM-116 rolling airframe missile (RAM). The RAM point defence missile is
a lightweight infrared homing surface-to-air missile for deployment
against incoming anti-ship cruise missiles. The forward launcher is
installed immediately forward of the bridge and the aft launcher is
installed on the roof of the helicopter hangar just forward of the
helicopter deck.
Sensors
The frigates have no conventional on-board sonar but instead have a
diver and swimmer detection sonar to counter terrorist and special
forces threats. The frigates are equipped with a 360° infrared
surveillance system installed on the front surface of the tower mast at a
position just lower than the air and surface search radar.
Radar systems will include an EADS TRS-3D air and surface search
radar, navigation and fire control radars. The TRS-3D radar carries out
automatic detection, track initiation and tracking of all types of air
and sea targets. The navigation radar is installed on the roof of the bridge.
Countermeasures
Much of the electronic warfare suite has not been announced but it
will include four Rheinmetall MASS multi ammunition soft-kill systems.
The MASS decoy and mini mortar dispensers are installed on the port and
starboard sides above the bridge and on the helicopter hangar roof.
Aircraft
The frigate has a 490m² aft helicopter deck and a hangar for two NH-90 helicopters. The NH-90 helicopters have a range of 790km.
Propulsion
The frigates are fitted with a new combined diesel electric and gas
(CODLAG) electrical propulsion system with a 20MW General Electric LM
2500 gas turbine, four MTU 20V 4000 M53B diesel engines providing
3,015kW each (total 12.06MW) and two Siemens electric motors providing
4.5MW each (total 9MW). The main machinery will run for 30,000 hours between major overhauls.
The F125 is fitted with bow thrusters for precision dockyard
manoeuvring without assistance.
* Apareguda la notícia sobre l'avanç en la producció de les fragates F125, hem cregut convenient penjar-vos també la fitxa tècnica.
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