ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) has christened the third of four F125-class frigates for the German Navy at its Hamburg facility.

Scheduled to be delivered to German defence procurement agency BAAINBw in early 2019, the ship named as Sachsen-Anhalt is being developed by TKMS-led ARGE F125 consortium. Work on this frigate started in June 2014.

Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems supervisory board chairman and ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems Management Board member Dr Hans Christoph Atzpodien said: "The F125 frigate class is a completely new type of ship. With numerous innovations and a multiple-crew strategy it is a further showcase for the leading engineering expertise of German naval shipbuilding."

"The F125 frigate class is a completely new type of ship."

Work under the contract, including construction of the stern sections, joining of two sections and further fitting out, is being performed at Blohm+Voss Shipyards in Hamburg, Germany.

The four F125 vessels will replace the German Navy’s existing F122 Bremen-class ships. The ships will be developed specially for current and future deployment scenarios for the navy.

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Capable of remaining at sea for 24 months, the 149m-long and 18m-wide ships can be deployed for conflict prevention, crisis management and intervention/stabilisation operations in the international arena, as well as for the traditional tasks of national and alliance defence.

Integrated with two 21-cell Mk49 launchers, the Baden-Württemberg-class ships are also armed with the Raytheon RIM-116 rolling airframe missiles (RAM) and can operate the NH-90 helicopters.

The 7,000t vessels can cruise at a maximum speed of 26k using new combined diesel electric and gas (CODLAG) electrical propulsion system with a General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine, four MTU 20V 4000 M53B diesel engines and two Siemens electric motors.