Home Europe Germany lays keel for final of five new K130 corvettes

Germany lays keel for final of five new K130 corvettes

German Navy corvette FGS Erfurt
German Navy file photo of a K130 corvette

German shipbuilder NVL Group held a keel-laying ceremony for the final of five batch-II K130 corvettes it is building for the German Navy in a ceremony at its Peene shipyard on March 15.

The five new ships, which will bring the total number of Brauncshweig-class corvettes in German Navy service to 10, are being built under the leadership of NVL Group (formerly: Lürssen Defence) at several shipyards.

Two of the five ships are built in Bremen, while three will be pre-built by German Naval Yards in Kiel. The ships’ final assembly will take at the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg.

Germany ordered the additional five units under a deal from 2017 for an estimated 2.4 billion euros.

The final ship in the class will be named Lübeck, after the final of the German Navy’s once eight-strong fleet of Bremen-class frigates, which is currently on its final operational mission before retiring this summer.

“With the entry into the construction phase of the last corvette at the beginning of February and today’s keel laying, all the teams involved in the project have proven that they can keep up the high pace of production of the five platforms despite the pandemic-related conditions,” said Tim Wagner, CEO of NVL Group.

Photo: NVL Group

The K130 corvettes are 90-meter ships equipped with two 27 mm Mauser MLG27 remote-controlled, fully-automatic cannons, and one OTO Melara 76 mm gun. The second batch of ships will have improved combat systems, new masts and an additional RHIB. They also carry the RBS-15 (Robotsystem 15) anti-ship missile that can also engage land targets.

The corvettes are also expected to operate the UMS Skeldar-developed V-200 vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which has already started shipborne trials.