Rheinmetall sees €300m hit from cancelled frigate plan

German weapons maker Rheinmetall said on August 6 that it expects a roughly 300 million euro, or $346 million, hit from Berlin's decision to cancel the F-126 naval frigate programme, even as first-half sales and profits rose.

Germany announced in mid-June that it was scrapping the stalled multi-billion-euro programme. Rheinmetall said the cancellation led it to lower its annual revenue forecast, now expected at between 13.7 billion and 14.2 billion euros.

The Duesseldorf-based company said revenue rose 39 percent from the first half of 2025 to 5.2 billion euros, while operating profit rose 74 percent to 786 million euros.

Rheinmetall chief executive Armin Papperger called the German government's decision "really astonishing" and said the company had already completed technical due-diligence work showing that it could carry out the project. He said Rheinmetall hopes to offset the losses in the long term through new national or international naval shipbuilding contracts.

Papperger said possible options include a new frigate programme for international naval customers or sales of minehunters and unmanned drone boats to the German military.

The company also said its order backlog surpassed 80 billion euros in the second quarter after 11.4 billion euros in new contracts, including a 5.7 billion euro deal with the Romanian military signed in June.

Papperger said a separate contract under negotiation with Germany's defence ministry to supply Boxer armoured vehicles was expected to be worth around 12.4 billion euros for the vehicles and an additional service contract.