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Naval
Industry News - Israel, Germany |
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Israel
Signed a Contract with Germany & TKMS for 4 Modified MEKO 80 Patrol
Corvettes |
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Speaking during the Israel Air Force ceremony on December 25th, Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel ordered four
new patrol vessels from Germany: "Today, I am pleased to announce
that three days ago, we added an important component to our defensive
force. We purchased four new Saar vessels from Germany" . |
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 The future Israeli Navy vessels are based on TKMS/Blohm+Voss MEKO 80 Patrol Corvette. While the four hulls will be built in Germany, weapon and sensor systems outfitting will highly likely be conducted in Israel. Picture: TKMS |
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According
to the German sources, the future Israeli Navy patrol vessels are based
on the MEKO 80 designed and built by German group ThyssenKrupp Marine
Systems (TKMS). MEKO 80 patrol corvette is a slightly reduced version
of the MEKO 100 (of which 6 were built for the Royal Malaysian Navy
and one under construction
in Poland for the Polish Navy). All four vessels will be built in Germany by TKMS while systems outfitting (combat management system, sensors and weapons) will most likely be conducted in Israel. Weapons fit may even include anti-aircraft the new medium-range surface to air missile system Barak 8 and MF-STAR multifunction AESA radar both systems developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). |
 Blohm+Voss Class MEKO 80 Patrol Corvette. According to TKMS website, the resultant fusion of corvette and OPV makes the patrol corvette a cost effective solution for navies requiring a low-cost and economical platform for patrol and policing duties that is also capable of naval missions, including combat. Picture: TKMS |
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For
more than three years, the governments of Germany and Israel were negotiating
on German participation in the financing of the program, just as Germany
partially financed the construction of Israel's six submarines type Dolphin
(project IKL800). For the record, German media reported that on the total
cost of $870 millions (for the first three Dolphin submarines delivered
to the Israeli Navy in 1999-2000) the German government has paid about
$700 million. According to a new agreement in 2006 (reported at $1.3 billion)
Israel ordered the construction of two more submarines (Dolphin Batch
II) modified with AIP technology (Tanin
and Rahav), the German government paid a third of the value. In March
2012 a third AIP Dolphin submarine was ordered for $700 million. The German
government should allocate $180 million to cover part of the costs for
the construction of this boat. In the current case of the MEKO patrol boats, the Israeli government apparently failed to make the Germans as generous as for the submarine deals (Israel reportedly originally requested that Germany covers half of the cost), however Merkel's government, according to German media, agreed to pay about 115 million Euros of the total cost of about 1 billion Euros for the construction of four ships. |
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