Germany has picked a consortium led by Blohm & Voss to build the German Navy's new K130 corvettes. The first five will be bought under a fixed-price $925 million contract. The fifteen planned ships of the class are to replace the old Type-S148, Type-S143A, and Type-S143B fast attack craft. The primary mission of the K130s will be surface warfare in littoral areas. The ships will be 88m long and displace 1,580 tons. The first ship should be delivered in 2005 and the fifth in 2008. The final ship of the 15 should be delivered in 2015. Each K130 will have a 76mm gun, two 27mm guns, two 21-cell Rolling Airframe Missile Launchers, eight Polyphem missiles for short-range combat and eight Harpoon or NSM missiles for long range battles. Each ship will have two UAVs (recon drones) to spot the enemy.--Stephen V Cole