On 24 June 2026 the German Federal Ministry of Defence (BMVg) confirmed the news, first reported by Der Spiegel the previous day, that Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has abandoned the country’s F126 frigate programme – the largest armaments project in the history of the German Navy – in favour of procuring eight smaller MEKO A-200 frigates from TKMS.

The programme to build six F126 frigates, which has plagued by delays and expected cost overruns, is thus to be definitively discontinued, as predicted by Warsight’s sister title Defence-Network.com in September 2025. While the decision appears to be a pragmatic one, it raises the question of whether the Bundeswehr will thereby accept a massive loss of capability. The price is also likely to be a point of contention.

Following problems at the Dutch shipyard Damen, which originally secured the F126 contract, and the change of the general contractor to Naval Vessels Lürssen, which was acquired by Rheinmetall in March 2026, around EUR 10 billion was recently earmarked for the F126 programme.

In May Rheinmetall finally offered the BMVg a deal to save the project for a total of EUR 12.8 billion. Each frigate of the Niedersachsen class was estimated to cost EUR 1.7 billion. This was to be supplemented by a service package of around EUR 1.6 billion and a financial buffer of EUR 1 billion.

Der Spiegel has reported on estimates from members of the Bundestag that put the funds already invested in the F126 programme at between EUR 2.3 billion and EUR 2.4 billion. According to information obtained by Der Spiegel, the likely cancellation of the entire F126 project is not solely due to the price demands of Rheinmetall’s Naval Systems division, but also to potential claims for damages against the German government by Damen.

The MEKO-200 bridge solution

What was initially intended as a purely interim solution is now evolving into a replacement programme. The smaller but established MEKO A-200 frigate design from TKMS was supposed to be available more quickly in order to at least meet Germany’s capability commitments to NATO. If the F126s had then arrived, the MEKOs could have been resold to other NATO countries. The MEKO A-200 DEU class is also already being marketed under the designation F128.

In early February 2026 the procurement of an initial four MEKO A-200 frigates began through a preliminary agreement between TKMS and the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) for up to EUR 50 million. This agreement secured the reservation of production slots, the ordering of materials, as well as project management and design activities. The aim was to ensure that the first MEKO A-200 DEU could be delivered to the German Navy as early as 2029.

A rapid delivery of the ships is necessary for one main reason: the German government has pledged to NATO that it will provide anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities in the North Atlantic, or more precisely the maritime area between Great Britain, Iceland and Greenland known as the GIUK gap, from 2028 onwards. This is the only direct access point for the Russian Northern Fleet to the Atlantic Ocean and is also the most important NATO supply route from North America to Europe.

Ships compared: the price-performance ratio

However, the question remains whether the MEKO A-200 is even capable of fulfilling this capability promise. There is a significant technical difference between the two frigate types.

The F126 was designed as a 166-m-long ship with a displacement of 10,500 tonnes. Although the F126’s lack of armament was repeatedly criticised, it would still have been a warship that offered the capacity for future upgrades – such as lasers.

In contrast, the MEKO A-200, at 121 m in length and 3,950 tonnes in displacement, is significantly smaller. It is based on TKMS’s proven, modular MEKO platform, which has been successfully exported to numerous navies since the 1980s. This also allows for a ship profile designed for the ASW mission but in a more compact design with less potential for future sensor and weaponry upgrades.

According to Der Spiegel, the costs reveal that even the supposedly cheaper alternative is proving significantly more expensive than originally calculated. While the unit price of the MEKO frigates was initially estimated at around EUR 1 billion per ship based on previous exports, the BMVg now anticipates that each of the four planned ships will cost EUR 6.3 billion.

Since the ministry believes that a second tranche would be cheaper at EUR 5.3 billion, Berlin expects costs of around EUR 12 billion for the construction contract as well as an additional EUR 700 million for further services.

Thus, the approximately EUR 12.3 billion for eight MEKO A-200 frigates is compared to the aforementioned EUR 12.8 billion for six F126 frigates.

That said, a press release issued by the BMVg on 24 June states that the “total financial requirement for the F126 would rise to over EUR 18 billion.” This is the result, taking all factors into account, of the ministry’s intensive review of the potential change of the prime contractor from Damen to Rheinmetall.

Submarine hunting on two very different platforms

The central evaluation criterion for comparing the F126 and the MEKO A-200 should be the ASW capability – precisely that urgently needed capability for a possible war scenario with Russia.

The F126 was equipped with a low-frequency towed active sonar system (LFTASS) from Atlas Elektronik. Detected targets would then be engaged with the well-known and proven UAW 90 lightweight torpedo. The ASW capability would also have been supplemented by a separate, container-based mission module: the ‘ASW Situational Awareness’ module.

The F126’s combined diesel-electric and diesel (CODLAD) propulsion system would also have had the advantage of lower noise emissions, which would have been useful for listening for enemy submarines.

The MEKO A-200 DEU follows a different, more compact approach with permanently integrated rather than modular ASW equipment, although the exact system configuration of the MEKO A-200 DEU has not yet been finalised. According to current plans, the German MEKO variant will be equipped with a hull sonar and torpedo tubes.

The future F128 will be complemented by the NH90 Sea Tiger shipborne helicopter. This aircraft, ideally suited for ASW, was also intended for the F126. However, this highlights a problem with the smaller MEKO 200: while the F126 was designed to carry two NH90 Sea Tiger MRFH helicopters, each weighing around 11 tonnes, these would likely not fit on the F128. The smaller TKMS frigates are only designed for one medium-weight helicopter. or alternatively two light helicopters.

From F126 to F128 – what does the navy say?

Cancellation of the F126 programme means the procurement has joined a long list of defence projects that have failed due to complexity, problems with the general contractor and escalating costs. Following the demise of the Franco-German-Spanish New Generation Fighter (NGF) two weeks ago, the question arises once again as to why such large-scale procurement projects regularly go awry. In any case, the French cannot be blamed for the F126.

For the navy, the end of the F126 programme finally brings clarity after a year of uncertainty, even though it has consumed over EUR 2 billion of taxpayers’ money without a single ship being delivered.

Will the switch from the F126 to the F128 ultimately pay off? It’s impossible to say for sure today. From a purely financial standpoint the MEKO solution with eight ships is significantly cheaper than the six F126s, but the replacement, simply due to its smaller size, will inevitably suffer compromises in sensor technology, weaponry and range.

Whether the larger number of ships compensates for this qualitative difference in practice, and whether it even matters for missions in the North Atlantic, remains an open question – as does the question of whether the EUR 1.6 billion MEKO procurement truly represents the end of the line financially. After all, until just a few weeks ago, the figure being considered was EUR 1 billion per ship.

Ultimately, while the Bundeswehr gains financial savings and a certain degree of delivery security by switching to the MEKO design, it pays for this with a permanently smaller and less expandable ship type than originally intended for national and alliance defence. It will be interesting to see how the German Navy reacts to this political decision and what statements it makes regarding the comparison of capabilities.