Pistorius Sets Course for a Fourth Klasse 424 Signals-Intelligence Ship at the Wolgast Keel-Laying

Pistorius called the fleet service boats an "extremely important capability". The ministry's written version is more cautious than the speech: it says parliamentary consultations now begin. The first of the class had its keel laid in February 2025 and is expected in 2029, two years later than the 2021 plan. At roughly EUR 1 billion a hull on the 2023 approval, a fourth ship would take the programme past EUR 4 billion.

Wolgast is the context the speech left out. The Peene-Werft came to Rheinmetall with the takeover of Lürssen's naval yards, and the F126 frigate, in which it had a construction share, was cancelled in June. Trade reporting describes an order gap at the yard from mid-2027 with several hundred jobs exposed, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has a state election ahead.

The capability case and the yard case point the same way, which is why the price deserves more scrutiny than it will get. Four hulls against three retiring is an expansion, and a defensible one: a Baltic in which a Russian corvette fires flares at a Danish helicopter is the environment these ships exist to listen to. But a fourth sister ship ordered from the incumbent, on a design already in build, to fill a gap the state itself opened by cancelling the frigate, is a negotiation in which Rheinmetall holds every card but one. The card is the budget committee. Signal No. 146 notes that no value was given; the submission will show whether the fourth ship is priced as a series unit, below EUR 1 billion, or as a new contract. Großwald expects the latter.