German lawmakers approved the acquisition of four additional MEKO A-200 DEU frigates from shipbuilder TKMS on Thursday. The decision expands Berlin’s planned fleet to eight ships after the government abandoned its troubled F126 program.

The Bundestag budget committee previously approved the first four frigates on July 8. That authorization also included an option for four additional vessels, which lawmakers have now agreed to exercise.

The Defense Ministry said the expanded purchase will provide the German Navy with a single class of eight ships. The vessels are intended chiefly for anti-submarine warfare, an area receiving increased attention from the German military.

Delivery of the first MEKO A-200 DEU is scheduled for 2029, according to an agency statement. The ships are expected to support NATO missions across the Baltic and North seas, the Atlantic and the High North.

Berlin selected the MEKO design after withdrawing from its contract with Damen Naval for six F126 frigates. Those ships initially were intended to provide the German Navy’s future anti-submarine warfare capability.

The ministry blamed its withdrawal on “considerable performance problems” by Damen. It said the government completed a broader assessment before terminating the arrangement, but that decision has already produced an expensive legal dispute.

Damen is seeking €4.7 billion, or $5.3 billion, in damages from the German government. The company argues that Berlin’s termination of the contract was politically motivated and legally unfounded, according to a report from Der Spiegel last week.

Germany had already spent more than €2 billion on the F126 effort without receiving a ship, according to public broadcaster ARD. The abandoned program’s price and lack of delivered vessels add a costly backdrop to the new eight ship plan.

The initial order for four MEKO frigates carried a reported price of €6.3 billion. The option covering another four ships was valued at €5.3 billion before lawmakers approved its use.

Reuters reported that the second group of four vessels will cost roughly €5.6 billion when project support and reserves are included. Projected operating costs for those four frigates through 2045 amount to an additional €1.55 billion.

The Defense Ministry argued that choosing one ship type should make training, maintenance and logistics simpler. It also noted that variants of the MEKO A-200 are already serving with allied navies.

TKMS described the planned production run of eight frigates as its largest surface vessel contract ever. The scale of the purchase gives the shipbuilder a central role in Germany’s revised naval procurement effort.

“With the four frigates already on order, the program has entered the implementation phase,” TKMS said in a statement. The additional order moves the program beyond the original four vessels authorized in July.

Germany’s military buildup since 2022 has placed heavy emphasis on anti-submarine warfare capabilities in the Baltic and North seas. The Arctic has also received particular attention, especially since the crisis over Greenland.

The F126 frigate was supposed to serve as an integral part of that strategy. Its cancellation pushed Berlin toward the MEKO A-200 DEU as the common platform for the German Navy’s planned eight ship submarine hunting fleet.

Other German procurements focused on combating submarines have proceeded more successfully, including the Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft. The first of those aircraft landed in Germany almost exactly a year ago.