Spiegel learned about Pistorius' plans to abandon the F126 frigate project.

The head of the German Ministry of Defense, Boris Pistoris, plans to abandon the project to build the latest frigates of the F126 type (Niedersachsen class, Lower Saxony), which were supposed to enter service with the German Navy. This was reported on June 21 by the German magazine Spiegel, citing sources.

"The Minister of Defense [from] the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany. Pistorius plans to abandon the largest defense project in the history of the Navy. The damage is estimated in billions," the text says.

This project was launched by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has already cost €2 billion. Now, being not yet fully implemented, they have spent from €2.3 billion to €2.4 billion on it. It was assumed that the new frigates would replace the same equipment of the older F123 Brandenburg model and would be released by 2028. Initially, the authorities planned to create only four such ships, and later Pistorius himself increased their number to six.

Subsequently, the head of the German Ministry of Defense, as the interlocutors of the publication clarified, began to be pressured by certain representatives of the Bundestag, who forced him not to purchase the F126, but instead to buy analogues — the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) Meko-200. He, in turn, listened to the instructions and now, according to informed persons, plans to close Merkel's project and order eight frigates of a new model, for which he is ready to contribute € 50 million as a reservation. According to preliminary estimates, approximately €12.7 billion more will need to be spent on new frigates. This step is supported by the leadership of the German Navy.

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A year earlier, on May 24, it became known about the sudden postponement of the completion of six F126s for at least 2030. At that time, the contractor who was supposed to fulfill the order, the Dutch shipbuilding company Damen Naval, was sharply dissatisfied with the terms of the contract. According to him, at least 70% of the work on the construction of frigates had to be carried out at German shipyards. At that time, this news was not commented on either in the Netherlands or in Germany.

Some time later, on October 31 of the same year, Pistorius got into an embezzlement scandal. Then, according to the Bild newspaper, he was criticized for blindly approving the acquisition of drones for the Bundeswehr for € 900 million.