Go back 20 years and the future for Germany's naval industrial base appeared, on the surface at least, very rosy. New domestic programmes, in the shape of three F124 frigates and up to a dozen U212 submarines, were in prospect, thought was being given to new corvettes (to become the K130 class) to replace the fast missile boats, and a range of new-build and upgrade projects were already running for the German Navy. On the world stage German companies were continuing to enjoy significant export success. Blohm + Voss, for example, had established its modular MEKO (Mehrzweck-Kombination) concept as the basis for the most successful export warship line of the modern era. Conceived by Blohm + Voss in the mid- 1970s, MEKO adopted what was, for the era, a highly novel and inherently flexible methodology for the installation of weapon, electronic, and major ship's service equipment in the form of standardised modules and common interfaces.
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