'Niche capability': Netherlands to assess 3 offers for 4 new submarines

Royal Netherlands Navy Walrus-Class submarines are set to be replaced by four new vessels in the mid-2030s. (Netherlands Ministry of Defense)

BELFAST — The Netherlands Ministry of Defense (MoD) says it has received three offers from European shipbuilders for the Replacement Netherlands Submarine Capability Program (RNSCP) for boats to take to the water in place of its current Walrus-Class vessels, and plans to make a final decision on the multi-billion-dollar program in the first quarter of 2024.

Christophe Van der Maat, Netherlands State Secretary for Defense, told the country’s House of Representatives on July 28 that the military received three responses to its invitation to tender, from France’s Naval Group, Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) and Sweden’s Saab Kockums.

Alongside each bid, competitors have also shared industrial cooperation proposals, which will be assessed separately by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.

Amsterdam plans on acquiring four diesel-electric submarines equipped with US Tomahawk long-range missiles to provide a “niche capability within NATO and the EU,” a spokesperson for Van der Maat’s office, told Breaking Defense in a statement.

“The threat on the eastern flank of NATO territory underscores how important it is for NATO partners to continue investing in their capabilities,” the spokesperson added. “I cannot go into the specific requirements of the submarines, since this is confidential.”

Program value for the acquisition is also confidential, but RNSCP falls under the Large Projects Regulation of the House of Representatives, applied to all efforts over €2.5 billion ($2.7 billion). The new submarines are due to be in service by mid-2030, a change to a previous timeline of a first submarine entering service by 2028.

That delay, announced by the Netherlands MoD in October 2021, occurred because “less information and less depth” emerged from conversations with competitors — ironic wording considering the subject matter.

At the time, “the designs could not yet be optimized and Defence itself also needed more time to analyze the information received,” according to the spokesperson for Van der Maat’s office.

Amsterdam also subsequently moved to extend the life of the Walrus class, but plans on decommissioning one of the four vessels in “the short term” and a second “later” with parts from both platforms to be used to maintain the two remaining submarines, in service until the mid-2030s.

Naval Group is offering a Barracuda design based on the Suffren class in service with France, with TKMS pitching the HDW Class 212CD E (Expeditionary). A non-expeditionary version is under order from the German and Norwegian navies as part of a €5.5 billion ($6 billion) deal signed in July 2021. Naval Group declined to comment on the Barracuda offer.

“We’re not at liberty to publicly share details of the [RNSCP] RFQ document or our proposal,” said a TKMS spokesperson. “The existing HDW 212CD E design is the most advanced non-nuclear submarine for worldwide operations and is ready to be ordered and can be delivered in time and in budget and is the best basis for European collaboration in submarine programs, especially in the North Atlantic Flank.”

TMKS has also acquired a new shipyard in Wismar, Northern Germany, where it “could start building submarines in 2025,” according to the spokesperson.

In a company statement issued on July 28, Saab said that with support from Sweden, the United Kingdom and Dutch shipbuilder Damen, it had offered the Expeditionary Submarine C718, referred to as a “successful, proven and future-proof design.”

The C718, based on the A26 Blekinge-Class, is under order from the Royal Swedish Navy. Saab held a keel laying ceremony at the manufacturer’s Karlskrona shipyard in June for first in class HMS Blekinge, where the first hull sections were positioned next to one another in preparation for welding.