Germany’s weapons export reached a record level in 2021 after Angela Merkel’s departing government made a last-minute approval of arms deals.
The deals approved by the former government were worth a record 5.6 billion dollars in its last nine days in office bringing Germany’s overall arms export to 9.04 billion euros a year according to German press agency DPA.
Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems was also authorized to export a type 218SG submarine to Singapore and it’s not yet clear how much the deal will cost since the details were not given at a time.
According to the information given by the Singapore government, the defence minister of Singapore Dr Ng Eng Hen talked to German chief navy vice Admiral Kay-Achim on December 20, 2021, and they both affirmed efforts in bilateral defence cooperation such as in submarine training and defence technology.
Both sides also discussed Germany’s future engagement of the Asia-pacific region and how the two countries could work together to preserve the international rules-based order at sea.
This phone call came at a time when a German frigate arrived in Singapore as a part of a six-month deployment to the Asia-Pacific region.
The warship will be docked at Changi Naval Base for two weeks over Christmas and a new year period for replacement and maintenance as well as rest for more than 200 sailors on board.
Currently, Singapore has four submarines which include two Challenger-class from Swedish Navy and two 2Archer-class also former Swedish navy submarines which were procured in November 2013 and the other two in May 2017.
The Type 218SG submarine is based on a design of the type 216 concept submarine from Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, Four submarines were ordered and the lead vessel RSS was invincible was launched in February 2019.
The Invincible-class submarine has a length of 70m, a beam of 6.3 and a maximum displacement of 2,200 tonnes and can reach a submerged speed of 15 knots(28km/h).
The Invincible-class submarine (218 SG) has a crew of 28 people and is equipped with eight torpedo launch tubes and comes with improved capabilities like independent propulsion systems based on fuel cell technology, which allows the submarine to stay submerged about 50% longer than Archer class submarine.
Despite criticism for human rights violations and its involvement in conflicts like Yemen and Libya, Egypt is the largest recipient of German weapons in the world.
Egypt will get three MEKO A-200 EN frigates from Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems and Diehl Defence is to deliver 16 IRIS-T SLS/SLX air defence systems in the last-minute agreements reached.
Egypt signed deals in weapons worth 4.34 billion euros with the German government which was in an acting state in its last days.
