The German Federal Security Council has approved the export of a Meko 200 frigate produced by ThyssenKrupp to the Egyptian Navy. Spiegel reported that the frigate deal was signed in September, is worth EUR2 billion (USD2.3 billion) and covers four A-200s. Egypt may buy another frigate from the manufacturer in addition to the one it is approved for. Over the last few years, Egypt has considered a new surface vessel buy, looking primarily at French and German products. The Egyptian Navy operates Gowind 2500 corvettes and a FREMM frigate purchased recently from France, but has evidently favored the German Meko 200 for its new purchase.
The MEKO 200 is a frigate design by the Blohm + Voss shipyard of Germany, as part of the MEKO family of warships. This frigate features the CODAG-WARP (water jet and refined propellers) propulsion system: two CPP propeller shafts driven by cross-connectable diesel engines plus a center-line, gas turbine-driven water jet, combining the power of each drive in the water with no need for a combining gearbox. This arrangement allows for extremely quiet acoustic signatures, a high degree of propulsion redundancy, and damage survivability. In the diesel-only mode this propulsion arrangement is also an extremely economic solution, as a single engine can drive both shafts for speeds of up to 18 knots.
In November 2018, La Tribune reported that a deal between Egypt and Germany for four Meko 200s — worth up to 2 billion euros — had been inked two months prior. However, the deal was frozen soon after signing, stemming from Saudi pressure. The deterioration of Saudi-German relations, particularly after Saudi Arabia’s killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, reportedly led to Riyadh putting a hold on providing funding for Egypt’s purchase. Even so, Handelsblatt reported later in the month in November that a deal for two frigates at one billion euros had been finalized and a contract awarded for ThyssenKrupp.
