Future Air Defender

Early impression of the FuAD by MTG in 2020
Class overview
NameFuture Air Defender (FuAD)
BuildersThyssenKrupp Marine Systems/Lürssen
Operators
Preceded by
Planned
Cancelled6 (Germany)
General characteristics
TypeBallistic Missile Defense (BMD) frigate
Displacement10,000 tonnes
Length160 m (524 ft 11 in)
Beam21 m (68 ft 11 in)
Draught5.5 m (18 ft 1 in)
Speed32 kn (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Range4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi)
Endurance30 days
Sensors &
processing systems
AN/SPY-6 in addition to smaller panels for a possible X-band AESA
Armament
  • 1 × OTO 127/64
  • 2 x 32 Mk 41 VLS (64 cells)
  • 2 × 21-cell (42 cells total) RIM-116 RAM CIWS launchers
  • 8 × Kongsberg NSM Block 1a anti-ship and land attack missiles
  • autocannons remote controlled machine guns

The Future Air Defender (FuAD) was a joint program from the Dutch and German navies to find a common replacement for both the De Zeven Provinciën and the Sachsen-class frigate. The joint German-Dutch programme was cancelled in November 2023.

The German Navy decided to pursue its own project with the F127 Frigate based on the MEKO A400 AMD.