Egypt builds frigates for its Navy jointly with ThyssenKrupp

By TOC

CAIRO, ($1=15.71 Egyptian Pounds) – ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems has begun installing weapons and onboard equipment at its shipyard in Kiel, Germany, on the Al Aziz frigate, the first of six MEKO A-200 ships commissioned by the Egyptian Navy, learned BulgarianMilitary.com, citing Defense Express. Under this contract, Egypt will be able to organize the production of “frigate” ships at its facilities.

In particular, the Al Aziz ship is already equipped with a 127-mm bow artillery installation and the Thales NS100 3D [AESA] radar system, writes the Navy Recognition portal.

Germany and Egypt signed a contract for the construction of six frigates under the MEKO A-200 project in September 2018.

The agreement then provided that the Egyptian fleet would receive four such frigates, worth more than 2 billion euros. In April 2019, the parameters of the agreement were expanded – Egypt will receive from Germany six such frigates, three of which are built directly at the facilities in Egypt itself. These will be the first frigate-class ships to be built by Egypt, albeit with the technological support of foreign partners.

Egypt was able to raise funding from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to fund a project to build frigates under a German project. There were their “geopolitical” motives – Egypt is an informal ally of the UAE and Saudi Arabia in the fight against the Yemeni Hussites.

Egypt has decided to order six MEKO A-200 frigates from Germany instead of using an option from France to supply two more Gowind-2500 corvettes. The project of MEKO A-200 frigates was developed by German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems in the early 2000s. In 2015-2017, Germany delivered two frigates to Algeria under the MEKO A-200 project.

MEKO-200 project ships have the following TTX:

  • water substitution – 2400 tons;
  • body length – 118 meters;
  • body width – 14 meters;
  • speed and range – up to 32 knots, up to 6000 miles;
  • crew – 220 people;
  • set of weapons – one artillery caliber 127 mm, three anti-aircraft artillery Phalanx, eight RCC Harpoon, anti-aircraft missiles See Sparrow, two three-tube torpedoes caliber 324 mm.

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