BERLIN, Oct 11 (Reuters)– A tender well worth around 4 billion euros ($ 4.5 billion) for 4 battleships for the German navy has actually been postponed by around 6 months to make certain high quality criteria are satisfied, according to a duplicate of a support ministry letter seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

The brand-new are anticipated to be supplied from 2023. They are planned to be with the ability of striking targets ashore as well as undersea as well as offering airborne defense to various other vessels.

In the letter to the German parliament’s spending plan board, Deputy Defence Minister Markus Gruebel stated it would certainly take longer in conclusion the contract with prospective buyers than it took with previous purchase tasks as a result of better criteria.

“This means that a final agreement will be available around half a year later, likely at the end of 2017,” he stated in the letter.

The tender for the 4 ships is among Germany’s largest arms tasks, together with an agreement for the MEADS projectile support system, developed by the European support team MBDA as well as Lockheed Martin Corp, for around 4 billion euros.

The support ministry desires 6 of the brand-new battleships in all, although a choice on getting the various other 2 is not likely to be made prior to 2030.

Luerssen as well as TKMS, Blohm+Voss as well as the Dutch team Damen shipyards along with German Naval Yards as well as Britain’s BAE Systems are amongst the 3 staying prospective buyer consortiums for the tender, according to safety and security resources.

($ 1 = 0.8928 euros) (Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Writing by Caroline Copley; Editing by Catherine Evans)

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