In August 2004, the Air Defence and Command Frigate "Sachsen", the first of class of the German Navy F124 class, successfully tested its air defence system.

Executed on a US test range near Pt. Mugu, California, the extensive tests consisted of firing a total of 21 SM-2 and ESSM missiles against several types of threats. The flight profiles of the threats ranged from sea skimmers and medium altitude attacks to supersonic high divers. As these tests simulated, among others, a simultaneous attack by several threats, they unequivocally demonstrate the defence capability of the Thales Nederland's AAW system against multiple targets. The tests also re-affirm Thales' leading position in naval defence systems.

The innovative air defence suite of the F124 class has been developed under a contract between Thales Nederland and the German, Netherlands and Canadian Navies. The air defence system is based on a completely new concept of missile guidance by the frigate's Active Phased Array Radar (APAR), resulting in unrivalled surveillance and weapon control capabilities. Long range surveillance, short reaction times and effective defence against simultaneous threats, thanks to ICWI, make these frigates well suited for their main task: to protect naval task forces or civil ships and other objects against air threats on open seas as well as in littoral areas. ICWI (Interrupted Continuous Wave Illumination) is a technology that enables APAR to guide several SM-2 or ESSM missiles simultaneously to different targets, in contrast to other current systems that can direct only one missile and engage only one target.

The "Sachsen" will be commissioned to the German Navy on 4 November of this year, followed by the second frigate, the "Hamburg", at the end of the year and the third frigate, the "Hessen", in 2005. The development of the AAW suites of the three F124 class frigates and the four LCF class frigates of the Royal Netherlands Navy, featuring Thales Nederland's APAR system, constitutes one of the most important naval technology developments in the world in this era. Other Thales products on these seven frigates are the volume search radar SMART-L and Sigma Splice, the basic architecture of the combat management system.