By Richard Scott
The German Navy’s three F 124 Sachsen-class air defense frigates are to receive a new electronic warfare (EW) suite from Rohde & Schwarz (Munich, Germany).
Under a contract awarded by the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw), the company will provide a variant of its R&S KORA 40 integrated communications-band/radar-band electronic support measures suite: the configuration for the F 124 frigates will additionally include a radar-band electronic countermeasures (RECM) component for self-protection.
Commissioned into the German Navy between December 2003 and April 2006, the F 124 frigates have retained the FL 1800S-II EW system fitted from build throughout their service lives. With the system now outdated and encountering obsolescence, the decision has been taken to procure a replacement capability leveraging from the R&S KORA family.
R&S KORA was originally developed to meet the German Navy’s requirements for a highly sensitive electromagnetic surveillance system intended to provide intercept and analysis of communications (HF/VHF/UHF) signals, and detect, identify and track complex radar emissions. The R&S KORA 18 system is fitted to the service’s four F 125 frigates; the evolved R&S KORA 40, already ordered for the new F 126 frigates, extends RESM frequency coverage from 18 GHz to 40 GHz to cover millimetric (Ka-band) frequencies.
The R&S KORA 40 system for the F 124 frigates is the first to feature an RECM capability. JED understands that the RECM component will be provided by ELT (Rome, Italy), coming from ELT’s Virgilius product family.
Rohde & Schwarz will supply a total of six R&S KORA 40 ship sets under this new contract with BAAINBw. Alongside the three F124 frigates, a further three land-based systems will be delivered for training, maintenance and reference. A first shore-based system is due for handover in 2026, with delivery of all six R&S KORA 40 systems due to conclude by 2030.
