German corvette Karlsruhe

The K130 Braunschweig class (sometimes Korvette 130) is Germany's newest class of ocean-going corvettes. Five ships have replaced the Gepard-class fast attack craft of the German Navy.

They feature reduced radar and infrared signatures ("stealth" beyond the Sachsen-class frigates) and will be equipped with two helicopter UAVs for remote sensing. Recently, the German Navy ordered a first batch of two UMS Skeldar V-200 systems for the use on the Braunschweig-class corvettes.^[2] The hangar is too small for standard helicopters, but the pad is large enough for Sea Kings, Lynx, or NH-90s, the helicopters of the German Navy.

The German Navy has ordered the RBS-15 Mk4 in advance, which will be a future development of the Mk3 with increased range —400 km (250 mi)— and a dual seeker for increased resistance to electronic countermeasures.^[3] The RBS-15 Mk3 has the capability to engage land targets.^[4]

In October 2016 it was announced that a second batch of five more frigates is to be procured from 2022 to 2025.^[5] The decision was in response to NATO requirements expecting Germany to provide a total of four corvettes at the highest readiness level for littoral operations by 2018, and with only five corvettes just two can be provided.^[6]

In September 2017, the German Navy commissioned the construction of five more corvettes in a consortium of North German shipyards. Lürssen will be the main contractor in the production of the vessels. The contract is worth around 2 billion euros.^[7][8] In April 2018, the German government announced the specific arrangements under which the five new K130s would be built.^[9][10]

Karlsruhe's construction started in 2020 and later laid down on 6 October 2020 by Lürssen-Werft in Bremen. In September 2022 it was reported that increasing difficulties in integrating the command and control systems for the Batch 2 ships had resulted in a cost growth of 401 million Euros and at least a two-year delay for the completion of the lead Batch 2 vessel, and potentially cascading delays for the next two ships in the Batch 2 program (including Karlsruhe) as well.^[11] The ship was christened in May 2024 in Hamburg, and has since begun its outfitting process.^[12]