According to Jens Kastner, IHS Jane’s Navy International correspondent, Algeria’s first MEKO A-200 frigate was commissioned in Algiers on 21 April in a ceremony attended by Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah, who serves as both the chief-of-staff of the military and deputy defence minister.
The Ministry of Defence said the arrival of Erradii (910) marked an important step in Algeria’s naval modernisation programme.
Built at the German Naval Yards in Kiel, Erradii (910) is the first of two MEKO A-200 frigates being built for Algeria by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) under a contract first reported in April 2012.
Photographs have been released on the internet showing the second vessel, which will reportedly be commissioned as Herrad (911), and was in the water by 11 December 2015.
Blohm+Voss MEKO A-200 Class Frigate
Workhorses of the sea, the Blohm+Voss MEKO A-200, follows the famous Blohm+Voss MEKO 200 series in a long line of general purpose frigates.
A fighting ship capable of full 4-dimensional warfare (AAW – Anti-Air Warfare, ASW – Anti-Submarine Warfare, ASuW – Anti-Surface Warfare, BCW – Biological and Chemical Warfare), the Blohm+Voss Class MEKO A-200 is also designed for sustained operations across the full spectrum of general missions and tasks: patrol and interdiction, support of special force operations, SAR (Search and Rescue) and humanitarian operations.
The Blohm+Voss MEKO A-200 is a perfect example of the innovative propulsion, stealth and survivability design, robust sea-keeping and all-weather boat and helicopter operability that characterises frigates from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. Fully proven with four units operational in the demanding Southern Ocean, further units are now being built for the Mediterranean, demonstrating the world-wide operating flexibility of these versatile ships.
The Blohm+Voss MEKO A-200 features the revolutionary CODAG-WARP (Water jet and Refined Propellers) propulsion system: two CPP (Controllable Pitch Propeller) propeller shafts driven by cross-connectable diesel engines plus a centre-line gas turbine-driven water jet, combining the power of each drive in the water without the need of a combining gearbox. This arrangement allows for extremely quiet acoustic signatures, a high degree of propulsion redundancy and damage survivability. The propulsion arrangement also provides, in the diesel only mode, an extremely economic solution, whereby a single engine can drive both shafts for a ship speed of 18 knots/20.7 mph/33.3 km/h, meaning that the ship will spend most of its life on a single engine.
The Blohm+Voss MEKO A-200 has greatly reduced radar, IR (Infrared), acoustic and magnetic signatures:
- The X-Form shell design; extensive bulwark screening of exposed equipment; flush-closing shell doors and RCS-net screening of all shell openings, give the vessel very low radar cross section.
- Without a funnel, and with all combustion engines exhaust horizontally on or below the waterline with active cooling, plus a shell cooling system, this ship has exceptionally low IR signatures.
- The small, light propellers and the aft-sighting of propulsion machinery allowed by CODAG-WARP combined with a forefoot skeg make for exceptionally quiet signatures.
The Blohm+Voss MEKO A-200 has outstanding sea-keeping and tactical mobility. The fast mono-hull features a forefoot skeg for greatly reduced yawing and directional stability in a seaway. The >16 m/52.5 feet beam and active fin stabilisers provide platform stability such that helicopter and boat operations can be conducted in sea state 6. A covered fo’c’sle and high freeboard provide for additional buoyancy and reduced deck wettnesses and slamming, allowing high speed transit in heavy seas.
With a tactical diameter of less than four ship lengths and a stopping distance from full speed using the reversing water jet (crash-stop manoeuvre) of less than two ship lengths, the Blohm+Voss MEKO A-200 outperforms all frigates in the same tonnage class.
TECHNICAL DATA
| MAIN DIMENSIONS | |
| Length o.a. (overall) | 121 m/397 feet |
| Beam maximum | 16.3 m/53.5 feet |
| Draught | 4.4 m/14.4 feet |
| Displacement (approximately) | 3,700 t |
| Speed maximum | >29 knots/33.3 mph/53.7 km/h |
| Range | 7,200 NM/8,285.6 miles/13,334.4 km |
| PROPULSION PLANT | |
| CODAG WARP | 2 × CPP + 1 × water jet |
| CODAG (COmbined Diesel And Gas) | 2 × MTU 16V 1163 TB93 |
| WARP | 1 × GE (General Electric) LM 2500 GT |
| COMPLEMENT | |
| Crew | 100-120 |
| Supernumerary | 50 |
| WEAPONS | |
| 127-mm or 76-mm Main Gun | 1 |
| 30-mm or 40-mm Secondary Guns | 2 |
| 12.7-mm or 20-mm Cannons | 2 |
| Surface to Surface Missiles | 8 |
| Surface to Air Missile VL Cells | 32 |
| ASW Torpedo Tubes | 2 |
| Sea Mines | |
| AIRCRAFT | |
| 5 t helicopters | 2 |
| UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) | 2 |
| SENSORS | |
| S-Band Navigation | 1 |
| X-Band Navigation | 1 |
| Helicopter Control Radar | 1 |
| 3D Surveillance/Targeting Radar | 1 |
| Fire Control Radars | 2 |
| Electro-Optical Tracker | 1 |
| Hull Mounted Sonar | 1 |
| Towed Array Sonar | 1 |
| Anti-Diver Sonar | 1 |
| ESM (Electronic Support Measures) System | 1 |
| COUNTERMEASURES | |
| Torpedo Decoy Launchers | 2 |
| EM/IR Decoy Launchers | 2 |