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HNLMS Orka Future Submarine / Walrus Replacement

On 30 September 2024, Gijs Tuinman, Dutch State Secretary for Defence, and Pierre Eric Pommellet, CEO of Naval Group, signed the Delivery Agreement for the Replacement Netherlands Submarine Capability (RNSC) program. As part of the Barracuda family of submarines, this program strengthens the strategic capabilities of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The Orka-class program also aims at strengthening the Netherlands’ strategic autonomy, further deepening the existing cooperation between the Netherlands Ministry of Defense, the Netherlands Defense Industrial Base (NL-DTIB) and Naval Group for the coming decades.

A key factor of the RNSC program is the strategic autonomy requirement, that Naval Group supports through an ambitious industrial cooperation plan which was formalized by the signing of the Industrial Cooperation Agreement (ICA) with the Ministry of Economic Affairs on 10th September, 2024. Under this agreement, Naval Group is committed to cooperate with numerous key Dutch companies and knowledge institutes over a period of twenty years. This plan involves Naval Group’s network of Dutch partners on key systems and components, ensuring that the Netherlands ecosystem develops and retains expertise and involvement over the submarine life cycle, centered around DMI.

The Vervanger Walrus class will consist of new submarines for the Royal Netherlands Navy, which must replace the current Walrus class submarines by 2031, if they are actually ordered by the Dutch government. A design must be selected in 2022 and a contract must be concluded with one of the three remaining providers. The submarines will become diesel-electric submarines, possibly with air-independent propulsion. By 2021 the decision on a winning bid was expected around the end of 2022, reflecting a one year delay relative to the initial plan.

On 15 March 2024 the Netherlands Ministry of Defence announced the French company Naval will build new submarines for the Netherlands Ministry of Defence. This provisional award decision was made following a careful tendering process. On behalf of the Dutch government, State Secretary for Defence Christophe van der Maat announced the winning shipyard at Den Helder Naval Base. Equipped with the latest technology and systems, the new submarines will be worthy successors to the current Walrus-class fleet. Together with the youngest sailor and the youngest officer of the Submarine Service, Van der Maat revealed the names of the new submarines. They are HNLMS Orka, HNLMS Zwaardvis, HNLMS Barracuda and HNLMS Tijgerhaai.

According to Van der Maat, Naval submitted a balanced, multifaceted and realistic tender. The shipyard created a design that will prove a worthy successor to the Walrus-class submarine. The state secretary went on to stress that Dutch industry will be playing a substantial role in building and maintaining the submarines. This involvement was a key award criterion. The award decision will therefore be beneficial not only to the Royal Netherlands Navy and the nation's security interests. It will also benefit Dutch businesses and foster the further development of the Netherlands' knowledge position.

The 4 new boats will be a considerable improvement in terms of their design and in a host of other areas. The ability to launch cruise missiles, for example, will substantially increase striking power. Furthermore, with the latest sensors and communication systems, the new submarines will be even better equipped than their predecessors to gather, analyse and share intelligence, which can be decisive in each phase of a conflict as well as in peacetime.

Because of modern battery technology, the boats will also have a larger energy capacity. This will allow them to remain submerged for longer and operate without raising a snorkel in order to use the diesel engines to charge the batteries. They will therefore be even quieter and less vulnerable to detection by the enemy.

Like their Walrus-class predecessors, the new submarines will be able to carry out a variety of missions across the globe. Also similar to their predecessors, the new boats will be relatively small, which will allow them to also operate in shallow waters. Nevertheless, because they will be larger than submarines that are designed to remain close to home base, the new boats will be able to operate independently far from home for extended periods of time. Because this combination is rare, Royal Netherlands Navy submarines are highly regarded in NATO.

The Ministry of Defence spent the past few months evaluating the tenders. This evaluation process resulted in an overall rating and a provisional winner. The delivery contract will be signed after the tender assessment has been debated in the House of Representatives. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy evaluated the proposals for an Industrial Cooperation Agreement, or ICA. The purpose of ICAs is to strengthen the Dutch defence and security-related Technological and Industrial Base (NLDTIB), which consists of approximately 1,000 companies. The winning shipyard must contribute to the strengthening of that base. A key element, indeed a condition for the award of contract, is therefore the conclusion of an ICA with the winning shipyard.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will also be concluded between the Dutch government and France. The areas covered by this MoU will include rights of use, information security and knowledge sharing. Under the provisions that will enter into force, Naval will deliver the first 2 new submarines within 10 years following the signing of the delivery contract. The Ministry of Defence has taken measures to ensure that the current Walrus-class submarines can safely remain in service until the mid-2030s. Two of the 4 boats will be phased out of service. This will keep spare parts available for the remaining boats, which will require more maintenance as they age.

The Dutch government announced its intent to buy four submarines to replace Walrus-class ships in 2018. The Walrus class would be replaced starting from 2027 by a new class of 4 submarines. Multiple options were studied including a unmanned version but this was labeled as to expensive, the options for a coastal submarine and oceangoing submarine are still on the table with the oceangoing favorite with the navy. This project currently was a EU tender but could be a dutch project due to securtity and secret operations of the submarine fleet. By 2018 there were four candidate suppliers :

1. TKMS (DE) Type 212CD
2. Damen-Saab (NL-SE) A26 variant
3. Naval Group (FR) SMX 3.0
4. Navantia (ES) S-80.

Initially, the French and Spanish seemed likely to be the first to be excluded for the tender.

Navantia, the Spanish shipyard, in its bid for the Walrus Replacement Program, proposed an adaptation to Dutch requirements and local content of the Spanish Navy S80 Plus submarine. With a modern design and a similar size to Walrus-class of about 3,000 tons, the reference design was already fully compliant with Dutch requirements including growth potential.

The expeditionary S-80 design was fully funded and already in production, therefore the minimal technical, schedule and financial risks provide an advantage comparing with completely new solutions. The modern design and the new yard infrastructure with a highly automated construction would lead to a solution offering substantial savings respect to any competing offer.

Navantia’s proposal was the only one offering its parent Navy solution, providing the possibility of a common fleet of eight expeditionary submarines offers sharing resources and co-operation in the fields of training, logistics support and operations, a unique joint capability within NATO. Past co-operation between the two countries with the Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment and Landing Platform Dock programs has proven to be very successful.

Navantia, through the S80 program, already has strong relationships with many Dutch naval suppliers and Dutch naval knowledge partners and during the biding process has identified numerous additional parties that would be included in the final solution. There was a clear commitment to work with Dutch naval industry and technology base to ensure full involvement and retention of Dutch submarine capabilities for the entire life cycle of the submarines.

Navantia had no exclusive teaming relations and can therefore consider sharing the construction with Damen at a later stage.

The Dutch government through the B letter announced Friday 13 December 2019 that it was continuing with Naval Group, Saab-Damen and tkMS, at the expense of Navantia. The choice to continue with three parties led to criticism last week, so the decision to drop Navantia can now also count on strong criticism from Madrid. A week after the elimination for the Dutch submarine assignment, on 20 December 2019 the Spanish state-owned company sent a letter to the Defense Material Organization (DMO). "Navantia objects to the grounds [of elimination] and therefore Navantia cannot accept the reasoning behind the exclusion". Navantia claimed to meet DMO requirements in the two rounds of Request for Information (RFI) that DMO has sent out in recent years. "At those points where the S-80 did not fully meet the requirements, Navantia indicated what efforts should be made to fully meet the requirements. In none of the cases would that result in a major adjustment." French Naval Group pitched its Barracuda-family submarine with Transfer of Technology (ToT) for Netherlands’ Walrus replacement program at the NIDV's Defence & Security exhibition in Rotterdam city, Netherlands. In February 2019, the company announced it teamed up with Dutch shipyard Royal IHC, specialized in off-shore construction, to increase its chances of being among the two manufacturers chosen by the Netherlands. Naval Group has now unveiled its partnership with Contour. “Their expertise will allow modern simulation tools to be deployed to ease the crew’s training period before the actual submarine is sent on trials,” the company said.

The Dutch cabinet announced 13 December 2019 that Saab and Damen Shipyards Group, together with other contenders, would continue to the next phase for the replacement of the Walrus-class submarines (WRES), aiming at the procurement of four submarines. Saab and Damen are awaiting further information from the Netherlands Government on how the process would proceed. Saab and Damen have a strong offer, which fits the operational requirements of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Dutch Defense Industrial Strategy (DIS). If selected, the Saab Damen offer would encompass export opportunities. Saab and Damen have joined forces to develop an expeditionary submarine for the Walrus Replacement Programme. The expeditionary submarine builds on the capabilities of the Swedish A26 and the knowledge and skills within Dutch naval shipbuilding. Furthermore it puts into practice the experience of the Swedish designed Collins-class submarine in-service with the Australian Navy.

The contract was estimated to be worth around $3 billion. According to reports, a firm order could be signed in 2022, with deliveries expected to begin in 2027. Currently, Naval Group-Dutch Royal IHC, German ThyssenKrupp, Spanish Navantia, and Swedish Saab-Dutch shipyards were in the race to net the multi-million dollar contract.

The Court of Audit on 10 December 2020 presented its findings on the investigation phase of the submarine replacement. In the report 'visor on the replacement of submarines', the Court of Audit concludes that positive steps have been taken with regard to studies, lifespan and cost-benefits. These improvements contribute to transparent and efficient decision-making. At the same time, there are also comments to be made, according to the Court of Auditors. For example, it is noted that the budget has increased since the start of the project and that other replacements may possibly get in the way. According to Defense, the cabinet deliberately released more money when it took office to make these and other necessary replacement projects possible. In choosing the procurement strategy, both policy (including national security interests) and management aspects (including risks) were considered. None of the candidate sites emerged as the unanimous winner in the research phase (B phase). That was why a procurement strategy has been chosen with three foreign candidate yards, namely: Naval Group, Saab Kockums and Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems. A 'dialogue' was held with these yards about the requirements for the future boats, which relate to best boat, best price, risk management, essential national security interests & strategic autonomy and time. If everything goes according to plan, this phase would last until the beginning of 2022. The final contract signing was expected to follow at the end of 2022 with the winning yard.

The Cabinet attached great importance to the involvement of Dutch companies in the construction and maintenance of the new submarines. The Netherlands has not had a self-creating submarine industry since the 1990s. That was why international cooperation had to be chosen at the start of this replacement process.

The Ministry of Defense wantrd to be able to deploy and maintain the new submarines independently and would therefore call on the knowledge and technology available in the Netherlands. Requirements would therefore be made to safeguard the national security interests and strategic autonomy. How this takes shape in practice was the subject of discussion in the dialogue with the candidate yards. In addition, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate was working in parallel with the candidate yards on an industrial cooperation agreement.

The precise input times for the delivery of the new submarines are the subject of discussion in the dialogue. The starting point was the delivery of the first new submarine from 2028 and at least 2 submarines fully operational capable by the end of 2031, so that the old Walrus class can then be phased out. It was essential that boats 3 and 4 are fully operational capable soon after 2031. This was because 4 submarines are needed to fully meet the national and NATO deployment targets.