Germany approves additional ESSM buy for German Navy frigates

The German parliament’s budget committee has approved the purchase of additional ESSMs for the German Navy’s Sachsen-class guided-missile frigates. (Michael Nitz)

The German federal parliament’s budget committee has authorised the procurement of an initial tranche of RIM-162 Evolved SeaSparrow Missiles (ESSMs) for the German Navy’s Type 124 Sachsen-class guided-missile frigates.

The procurement proposal is worth in excess of EUR25 million (USD27.53 million) and the scope of supply also covers launch containers, transport containers, and spare parts.

In a 20 April statement, the German Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the initial order would be followed by a second tranche of ESSMs in 2024 to fully equip the Type 124 frigates, as well as the Type 126-class frigates currently under construction.

In the future, the intention is still to equip the Type 123 Brandenburg-class frigates with the ESSM, the MoD said.

The German Navy operates three Type 124 Sachsen-class frigates, which have been in service since 2004–05. Each is armed with a 32-cell Mk 41 vertical launching system (VLS) equipped with 32 Raytheon RIM-162B ESSM Block I (quad-packed per cell) and 24 Standard Missile-2 Block IIA surface-to-air missiles. First-of-class FGS Sachsen