Swedish Saab Wins €788M TKMS Deal to Equip Four German F128 Frigates with 9LV and Sea Giraffe Radars.

Saab has secured an SEK 8.7 billion contract from TKMS to equip four German Navy F128 frigates with the 9LV combat system, Sea Giraffe radars, passive sensors and lightweight composite superstructures, the company announced on July 16, 2026. The package will give the MEKO A-200 DEU ships an integrated command-and-sensor architecture for coordinating anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare.

Deliveries are planned between 2029 and 2032, supporting Germany’s effort to rebuild frigate capacity after ending the delayed F126 program. An option for additional ships could expand the class further, strengthening the Navy’s anti-submarine force structure and broader maritime deterrence.

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Saab will equip Germany's four future F128 MEKO A-200 DEU frigates with the 9LV combat management system, Sea Giraffe radars, passive sensors, and composite superstructures under a SEK 8.7 billion contract. The systems will integrate the ships' air-defence, anti-surface and anti-submarine weapons into a common sensor-to-shooter architecture (Picture source: TKMS).

The German frigate is derived from TKMS’s 121-metre MEKO A-200 design, which has a beam of 16.4 metres, a design draught of 4.4 metres and a full-load displacement of approximately 3,950 tonnes. The standard design carries a core crew of 125 and accommodation for 49 additional personnel. Its CODAG-WARP propulsion arrangement combines a 20 MW gas turbine driving a centreline waterjet with two 6 MW diesel propulsion chains connected to low-noise controllable-pitch propellers. TKMS states a maximum speed above 29 knots and a range exceeding 6,500 nautical miles at 16 knots. The aviation facilities can support one helicopter in the 11-tonne class, corresponding to the German Navy’s NH90 Sea Tiger, plus two unmanned aerial vehicles. These characteristics produce a smaller and less manpower-intensive frigate than the cancelled F126, but with less internal volume, fewer weapon positions, and less margin for later additions.

Saab’s principal contribution is the integration of the frigate’s sensors, weapons and tactical communications through the 9LV Combat Management System and 9LV Fire Control System. The 9LV software will receive tracks from the Sea Giraffe radars, passive electronic sensors, sonar systems, identification equipment, and external tactical data links, correlate those inputs, and present the command team with a single recognized tactical picture. It will also support threat evaluation, weapon assignment, and engagement sequencing. This function is operationally significant because a modern frigate does not engage a missile or aircraft using radar data alone: the combat system must establish track quality, classify the contact, verify engagement criteria, and pass an acceptable firing solution to the selected weapon. Saab reports that a typical 9LV integration project can involve approximately 50 subsystems. The company is therefore responsible for many of the technical interfaces that will determine whether the F128’s radar, electronic-warfare equipment, missiles, gun and third-party anti-submarine sensors function as one combat system rather than as separate installations.

The primary air-surveillance sensor will be the Sea Giraffe 4A Fixed Face, an S-band active electronically scanned array radar using fixed antenna faces to maintain continuous coverage without the revisit delay associated with a mechanically rotating radar. Saab has not published the contracted German detection ranges, transmitted power, or array dimensions. It states that the radar covers 360 degrees in azimuth and more than 70 degrees in elevation, while simultaneously tracking aircraft, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and surface contacts in coastal clutter. The smaller X-band Sea Giraffe 1X will provide a second surveillance layer optimized for low-altitude, short-range, and low-radar-cross-section contacts. The 1X searches its complete volume once per second, has a topside weight of approximately 100 kg, and is intended to detect targets such as small drones, boats, and sea-skimming missiles. Using S-band and X-band sensors gives the combat system different frequency characteristics and update rates, but it does not remove dependence on electronic-support measures, off-board surveillance, and correct radar-emission management when operating against an opponent capable of geolocating active transmissions.

Germany has not released a final, contractually confirmed F128 weapon list. German reporting indicates that the configuration is based on the MEKO A-200 offered to Australia and is expected to include a 76 mm naval gun, 16 Kongsberg Naval Strike Missiles, 16 Mk 41 vertical-launch cells, a 21-round Rolling Airframe Missile launcher, and remotely controlled 30 mm guns. If all 16 Mk 41 cells are loaded with quad-packed ESSM Block 2 interceptors, the theoretical capacity would be 64 missiles; any allocation of cells to larger weapons would reduce that total. ESSM Block 2 uses a dual-mode active and semi-active radar seeker, reducing the requirement for continuous terminal illumination and allowing the combat system to manage more than one engagement sequence. However, 16 cells give the F128 a local-area and self-defence magazine, not the sustained air-defence capacity expected from the planned F127 frigate. The reported 16 NSMs would provide the offensive component. Each missile is 3.96 metres long, weighs 407 kg, flies at high-subsonic speed and has a stated range above 300 km. Its passive imaging-infrared seeker, autonomous target recognition and sea-skimming flight profile reduce the warning available to the target, although attacks beyond the frigate’s radar horizon will require targeting data from aircraft, unmanned systems, satellites or other NATO units. The 76/62 Super Rapid gun can fire up to 120 rounds per minute, carries 80 ready rounds, and reaches 16 km with standard ammunition, but Germany has not confirmed the gun variant or the purchase of guided DART or Vulcano ammunition.

Saab will not supply the frigates’ complete anti-submarine warfare suite, and its announcement does not identify the sonar, torpedo or electronic-warfare manufacturers. Its role is to connect those systems to 9LV and ensure that sonar tracks, helicopter reports, and external contacts can be processed within the same command environment. This will be central to an F128 operating with an NH90 Sea Tiger, a towed sonar and lightweight torpedoes, because the helicopter may detect and attack a submarine well beyond the ship’s own acoustic detection area. Saab will also provide composite superstructures that the company says are approximately 50 percent lighter than equivalent steel or aluminium structures. That figure applies to the structure, not to the complete ship, but the reduction in weight above the waterline improves stability and preserves displacement for radar arrays, ammunition, and later modifications. The use of 9LV, Sea Giraffe 4A and Sea Giraffe 1X also overlaps with the SEK 4.6 billion modernization of Germany’s four F123 Brandenburg-class frigates, contracted in 2021. This common equipment could reduce training and software-support differences between the two classes, while the accelerated schedule and limited Mk 41 capacity remain central issues in assessing Germany’s replacement of the F126 program.

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Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.