The European Union has begun work on new generation combat ships

The European Union has begun work on a new generation of warships that could be put into service around the 2040s, writes the military publication Defense News.

According to the publication, EU defense ministers could sign the agreement at a meeting in two weeks. The work will be carried out within the framework of the European Combat Ship program, said Jurgen Skraebeck, head of the maritime affairs unit at the European Defense Agency (EDA).

An EDA spokesman expects the program's budget could exceed 20 billion euros ($22 billion) in 2024 prices, with the design of the next-generation vessels differing significantly from those available today.

The new generation of ships will be very different from those we have now, because the scenario of warfare at sea is changing dramatically.

" said Fernando Miguelez Garcia, chairman of the European Naval Industry Group (ENIG), adding that it would obviously be possible to use the mother ship for delivery drones to the war zone.

And according to Ignacio Cuartero, director of the EU Military Headquarters' Concepts and Capabilities Directorate, the future vessel should be compact and capable of countering "a full range of threats," including new ones, from small drones to hypersonic anti-ship missiles.

Skräbäck noted that the requirements for the future EU combat ship include a reduced crew and therefore a high degree of automation, as well as unmanned systems of different sizes. Based on this and some other parameters, a vessel with a displacement of 8000 tons or more may be required, the EDA representative believes.

More details about the future EU ship will be known after the meeting of the heads of defense departments of the member states on November 19.

Comments

[Askold65]

By the way, German shipyards are no longer capable of building ships. They placed their last order for their frigates in the Netherlands.

[Sergey39]

Holland has moved the construction of warships to Romania. The English have big problems with the construction of new ships and submarines. But the French, Italians and Spaniards are ahead "on a dashing horse".

[solar]

The first F126-class frigate "Saarland" for the German Navy was laid down at the Peene shipyard in Wolgast, Germany. Speaking at the ceremony dedicated to this event, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius confirmed that the country's authorities intend to increase the order for the ships F126 from four to six units...
The frigates will be built entirely at the German shipyards in Wolgast, Kiel and Hamburg. The steel structures and pre-assembly of the stern are planned at the Peene shipyard in Wolgast, part of the NVL Group. The bow will be built in Kiel, where it will be joined to the stern section. The completed hull will be towed by sea to Blohm+Voss in Hamburg for final outfitting, testing and commissioning.

At the major maritime industry exhibition SMM 2024, which is taking place from 3 to 6 September in Hamburg, the German companies ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) and Naval Vessels Lürssen (NVL) signed a cooperation agreement, within the framework of which they plan to jointly implement a program for the delivery of frigates of the type to the German Navy. F127 based on the MEKO A-400 AMD project proposed by TKMS.

[Askold65]

Okay, they will build it in German shipyards, but according to a Dutch design. Have the Germans forgotten how to design frigates?

Germany has ordered two additional F126-class frigates (Saarland) from the Dutch company Damen Naval. As Navy Recognition specifies, the German Navy will thus receive six ships of this type. As a result of an international tender in January 2020, the Dutch group Damen won the contract to supply the German Navy with four frigates with an option for two more ships. The total amount, if the option is exercised, will be 5,48 billion euros. Blohm+Voss and Thales are declared subcontractors.

[solar]

Okay, they will build it in German shipyards, but according to a Dutch design. Have the Germans forgotten how to design frigates?

The Germans announced an open competition with the participation of foreign European companies, the competition was won by the Dutch company Damen Group in cooperation with the German Blohm + Voss, everything is natural. The Germans will build. This is what competition is, it keeps you on your toes. For Europe and NATO in general, such cooperation is a common thing.

The 2015 tender was open to bids from European companies, and Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen decided not to bar foreign bidders for reasons of national security. Several companies took part in the tender, including: [ 23 ]
BAE Systems and German Naval Shipyards
Damen Group and Blohm + Voss
Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems and Lürssen

The Americans, for example, ordered their frigate from the Italians, and nothing happened.

[Askold65]

Quote from solar

This is what competition is, it keeps you on your toes. For Europe and NATO in general, such cooperation is a common thing.

No -- such cooperation is actually an unusual thing. Every country capable of building ships ALWAYS ordered them from the shipyards of its own countries: the British -- theirs, the Germans -- theirs, the French -- theirs, the Italians -- theirs, the Swedes -- theirs, the Dutch -- theirs... with the involvement of firms from partner countries. The same applied to other weapons, from small arms and armored vehicles to fighters. Their cooperation was carried out with JOINT development and distribution of orders according to the invested funds. Because of this, there were often disagreements on financial grounds, with individual countries withdrawing from the project (for example: "Rafale" / "Eurofighter"). But recently there has been a tendency that some countries are losing their competencies and are forced to place orders in other NATO countries, or even in South Korea.
In this case, the Germans stupidly organized, in essence, a licensed assembly.

Quote from solar

The Americans, for example, ordered their frigate from the Italians, and nothing happened.

So, not everything is so smooth for the Americans, if they gave such a financial pie to the Italians. There was already information that they have serious problems with personnel in shipbuilding. They themselves are foisting their "Patriots" and F-35s on their satellites, and then suddenly decided to buy frigates from them.

[solar]

Every country capable of building ships ALWAYS ordered them from the shipyards of their countries

You forgot - the Germans build them in their own shipyards.

The country's authorities intend to increase the order for F126 ships from four to six units...
The frigates will be built entirely at German shipyards in Wolgast, Kiel and Hamburg.

They cooperated in JOINT development

The development of the frigates was in cooperation with the Germans, with Blohm + Voss in this case.

Several companies took part in the tender, including: [ 23 ]
BAE Systems and German Naval Shipyards
Damen Group and Blohm + Voss
Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems and Lürssen

NATO does not strive to do everything independently down to the last nail, they do not need it. On the contrary, they support a certain competition.
They held a competition, chose the best option and are building it at shipyards in their own country. Just like the Americans, by the way.

[Askold65]

Quote from solar

You forgot - the Germans build them in their own shipyards.

So what, the Indians assemble the Su-30 MKI at their factories... The submarines seem to be French...
And if the Germans buy American F-35s to replace the Tornado, then they, like the British, will forget how to design and produce fighters as well... Because the Americans don't need competitors. The French are still fluttering around... Only the Ukrainians believe in all this talk about "fair competition" in the holy West.

Quote from solar

The Americans, for example, ordered their frigate from the Italians, and nothing happened. They held a competition, chose the best option, and are building it at shipyards in their own country.

You are mistaken. The Americans ordered the frigate from the American shipbuilding company Marinette Marine Corporation (MMC) in Marinette (Wisconsin), owned by the Italian shipbuilding association Fincantieri, designed on the basis of the Franco-Italian project (Italian version) of the FREMM frigates. The Americans took the Italian project as a basis for their concept.

[solar]

You are wrong. The Americans ordered the frigate from the American shipbuilding company Marinette Marine Corporation (MMC) in Marinette (Wisconsin), which is owned by the Italian shipbuilding association Fincantieri

Where am I wrong? The Americans chose a project based on the development of an Italian company, and they will build it in their own country.

The FFG(X) was announced in a US Department of Defense Request for Information on 10 July 2017.[2][3] The US Navy selected five shipbuilders to participate in the competition to build the advanced frigate, with the preliminary designation for the series estimated at twenty ships.[4] On 30 April 2020, it was announced that Fincantieri Marinette Marine had won the contract.

You repeated what I wrote earlier, but for some reason added that I was supposedly wrong.

[Askold65]

Quote from solar

You repeated what I wrote earlier, but for some reason added that I was supposedly wrong.

You are mistaken in thinking that this is a purely Italian company with a purely Italian project.
In fact, it is the American company Marinette Marine Corporation (MMC), bought out by Fincantieri Marinette Marine together with Lockheed Martin Corporation.
The Constellation-class frigates have generally moved quite far from the appearance of their original prototype in the form of the Italian FREMM variant. With completely different armament and a new derivative of the AEGIS integrated multifunctional weapon system of the Baseline Ten variant and other electronic equipment "stuffing".

[solar]

You are mistaken in thinking that this is a purely Italian company with a purely Italian project.

And I didn’t write that she was “purely Italian”.

[Askold65]

Quote from solar

And I didn’t write that she was “purely Italian”.

The Americans, for example, ordered their frigate from the Italians, and nothing happened.

So, the "Italian-Americans"...

[solar]

Damen Group and Blohm + Voss

The same Dutch-Germans :))

[solar]

The Germans want to have a supersonic anti-ship missile for their new frigates.

The Budget Committee of the Bundestag (the German parliament) has approved funding for a joint program with Norway to develop a new anti-ship missile, the 3SM (Supersonic Strike Missile)... It is assumed that the Tyrfing missile, named after the magic sword from the Scandinavian epic "Hervör Saga", will be able to reach speeds of 2 to 3 Mach numbers (2450–3675 km/h) and hit targets at ranges of 800 to 1000 km.

[Tektor]

The general line of development of the naval forces is now obvious - the creation of a network of underwater drones operating according to a single plan, but independently of each other. The drone network should first of all help to illuminate the underwater situation in the theater of military operations in threatened directions. That is, to facilitate the issuance of target designations for underwater fighters and other means of destruction.