I never underestimate the Germans ... will they be able to make Sea Swap work where we failed?
Well ... can't fault their optimism;
On the F125 frigate, ... there will be eight crews for four frigates and crews will be changed every four months in theatre.Wow. Maybe you can. Perhaps only the very exacting Germans or Japanese could pull this off. I don't know, but it will be good to watch. Hey, they can pull off having bars on their warships without running aground hither-n-yon ... so why not?
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"In addition, to avoid an increase of overall personnel required, the ship's crew is limited to 120," Jedlicka adds.
BTW, the F-125 ain't no "frigate" - no, at 7,200 tons, well in to the modern destroyer category.
Forget about Sea Swap for a bit .... here are some real interesting concepts that need to be watched closely;
We have redundancy on board for the command post and the communications systems because it is essential to be able to communicate with everyone and have your internal procedures working," Jedlicka notes. "But we don't have redundancy for weaponry and sensors."That would explain its light AAW ability - and if I were the Germans I would be concerned that they have assumed away war at sea.
The F125 weapon system, too, is tailored to counter modern asymmetric threats. While the vessel will house long-range weapons such as a 127mm/64 lightweight naval gun, which can fire up to 35 rounds a minute and hit targets over 100km away, the majority of its weapons are ideal for much closer combat.
"This ship is not about using the most modern technology; the idea was to use what we have and focus more on close-in weapon systems and the protection of the ship," Jedlicka notes. "That's why you find lots of small gun calibres that give you a real advantage against small boats. These are perfect for the scenarios we have now in Africa with pirates." But it's the four combat boats that will also be found onboard the F125 that Jedlicka is most excited about.
"This is a really new thing, which changes a lot," he emphasises. "If you have pirates in a small boat with hand-held weapons systems, they can inflict a lot of damage to a very expensive ship. So we decided that if we needed to investigate contacts, we should do so in a small ship."
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The German Navy has therefore designed a small combat ship to carry out four roles: rescue and transport, boarding, escort and special forces use.
"You put a team of 16-20 highly trained personnel equipped with small weapons in these boats and you can fulfil your task without having an asymmetric threat to the frigate," Jedlicka explains.
Moreover, the F125 vessel is designed to support up to 50 members of the special forces, as well as their equipment onboard.
"This naval platform provides a unique facility to offer support in transport, logistics, communications and command facilities to special forces deployment," Jedlicka confirms.
History doesn't like being ignored. Just a thought.
Hat tip Tom.