German Navy

Main article: Bundeswehr (Bundeswehr)

History

2024

Large purchases and modernization of equipment

In 2024, the naval forces remain in the focus of the attention of German military leaders. Deliveries and modernization of a wide range of weapons are expected:

• 9 medium-range boats (3.88 million each, 2024-2025),

• 8 P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft (366 million each),

• 600 offshore RAM Block 2B (934 thousand each) and RIM-7 Sea Sparrow (269 million),

• 3 class 424 service vessels (386.6 million each, 2029-2031),

• 4 long-range underwater UAVs (13.1 million each, until 2025),

• modernization of 4 class 123 frigates (300 million each, 2026-2029),

• 48 Mk 54 light torpedoes.

The German navy still uses 8-inch floppy disks, which disappeared from everyday life back in the early 80s

In mid-July 2024, it became known that the German Navy was selecting a new data storage system to replace the outdated 8-inch floppy disks that are necessary for the operation of the Brandenburg F123-class frigates. According to the official tender document, the ideal response to the problems of the German Navy would be a system capable of working with old floppy disks using new technologies.

German F123-class frigates "Brandenburg" were commissioned in the mid-1990s, and during that period floppy disks were considered as a convenient removable storage medium. The respective actuators are built into the frigate's data collection system and are thus fundamental to the control of the ship's basic functions, such as propulsion and power generation. However, in the modern world, F123 frigates used for hunting submarines require modernization.

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Wikipedia

Replacing computer equipment thirty years ago, while maintaining the full functionality of existing floppy disks, will not be easy. However, the German Navy is not the first to encounter a similar problem, and there are many options available on the market for using new technologies for emulating floppy disks, such as Gotek drives. There are other workable solutions, and it all depends on who exactly the German Navy will choose to implement the project.

As an example of other systems that still run on floppy disks and require urgent modernization, train control systems in San Francisco and a computer control system for German railways can be cited. Even the U.S. Strategic Automated Management and Control System (SACCS) has only been transitioned to solid-state storage solutions in 2019.^[1]

Failure in the defeat of an American drone in the Red Sea by the frigate "Hesse"

In February 2024, the frigate of the German Navy "Hesse," located in the Red Sea as part of the intercity coalition to contain the Yemeni Houthis, fell into a comical situation.

On February 26, a drone was displayed on the ship's radar, which was identified as enemy. German sailors immediately launched two SM-2 missiles at the target.

However, it turned out that the drone was the American MQ-9 "Reaper." The absurdity of the situation is that the missiles did not reach the target and fell into the sea. The ceiling of the MQ-9 Reaper is 12 km, the maximum height of the SM-2 missiles is 20 km.

1919

A German submarine washed ashore in Sussex, Britain, 1919

Notes