Germany to Buy Six MKS Multi-Role Warships
Germany's Defence Ministry has decided to buy a total of six MKS-180 multi-role warships instead of four, as initially planned, a ministry spokesman said Monday, without providing a new cost estimate for the program.
The ministry decided last October to delay a tender for four warships that was valued at 4 billion euros ($4.24 billion), to ensure that quality standards were met. A decision on the two extra warships had not been planned until 2030.
The new ships, to be delivered from 2023, will be used for attacking targets on land and underwater, as well as providing aerial protection to other vessels.
The three remaining teams bidding to build the new warships are Bremen-based privately owned shipyard Luerssen and Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems; Blohm + Voss, whose takeover by Luerssen was announced in September, and the Dutch group Damen shipyards; and German Naval Yards paired with Britain's BAE Systems, according to security sources.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal)
