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212 CD (Common Design)

The contracts for the U212 Common Design (CD) were signed on 8 July 2021 following extensive preparation and negotiations between the Norwegian (NDMA) and German materiel organisations (BAAINBw) and the contractor tkMS. "Norway and Germany are now setting a new standard for allied cooperation by becoming the first countries to build and operate identical submarines. Today we marked the opening of the world's most modern production facility for conventional submarines, and production start of the world's most modern conventional submarine, the 212CD", said Minister of Defence Bjørn Arild Gram (Centre Party) from Norway.

The German-Norwegian submarine program is making great strides forward. Only two years after signing the largest order in thyssen krupp's history, production of the six identical (212CD) submarines for the German and Norwegian navies is officially underway. "The first of the new submarines will be delivered to Norway in 2029. The contracts cover the acquisition of six submarines - four for Norway and two for Germany", said Gram.

Norway and Germany intend to establish a joint life-cycle management office, staffed by personnel from both countries, to plan and conduct maintenance and upgrades of all six submarines. A dedicated maintenance shipyard for the Norwegian and German 212CDs is under construction at the Haakonsvern Naval Base outside Bergen in Norway which is expected to be ready by the time the first submarine enters service in 2029. The maintenance yard will also host the joint life cycle management office.

"The combined value of the two contracts is more than €5 billion. Additional submarines are also an open discussion", said Gram. Germany and Norway are working closely together on procuring identical submarines, and the joint process towards the submarine supplier TKMS is well under way. Germany and Norway agreed on a strategic partnership for new submarines in 2017. As a result, the two nations entered into a bilateral agreement on naval materiel cooperation 30 June 2017. The cooperation goes far beyond procurement of new identical submarines, and includes cooperation on naval missiles, strengthening the Navy-to-Navy cooperation, expanding industrial cooperation, and increasing cooperation on research and development in the naval domain.

The new Norwegian submarines are scheduled to ship from about 2025, with subsequent delivery of one submarine per year, and the delivery of the German U-boats is planned for 2027 and 2030 respectively. The Norwegian Parliament expects that a potential future procurement will ensure contracts for Norwegian defence industry equal to the procurement cost, and that these contracts will provide access to the home market of the chosen supplier.

In April 2016, ThyssenKrupp lost the competition for a billion-dollar contract for the construction of Australian submarines . The contract was then won by French competition from DCNS. The loss of the Australian submarine contract to the French DCNS (today: Naval Group) was for the Germans a shock. The justification of the Australians was that the Germans products relatived to the French generated more noise, in particularly high speeds.

With the design of the 212-CD submarines yet to be locked down, the program stipulated clinching contracts with leading German vendor ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) in 2020 and delivering first such vessel to Norway in late 2026. Such cooperation is new for Germany given that “everything from spare parts to training and operational aspects is designed to be bilateral from the start, possibly tying the two sea services together for decades”. Under the 2017 strategic cooperation programme on submarines, TKMS is due to produce four such vessels for Norway and two more for Germany. Additionally, the programme envisages the Norwegian missile-maker Kongsberg outfitting German warships with upgraded naval strike missiles.

On the 2nd of February 2017, the Norwegian Government decided on Germany as a strategic partner for new submarines. Since then, the partnership has been expanded to encompass additional areas. The bilateral cooperation is formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding. On 22 August 2017 the German and Norwegian Ministers of Defence formally marked the start of a long-term cooperation on new submarines and naval missiles. Minister of Defence, Ine Eriksen Søreide, met her German colleague, Ursula von der Leyen, at Eckernföerde naval base today for a bilateral meeting celebrating the start of German-Norwegian naval defence materiel cooperation. "I am very pleased that Norway and Germany have agreed upon a strategic cooperation on naval defence materiel. This agreement is the start of a long-lasting cooperation on new submarines, naval missiles and other defence systems", said Eriksen Søreide.

Norway and Germany already had a longstanding and successful submarine cooperation. Germany is therefore a nation which it is natural for Norway to discuss a potential future submarine cooperation with. In addition to operational and purely defence related matters, industry will play an important part in a future submarine cooperation. The Ministry of Defence participated in an industrial seminar hosted by the Bundesverband der Deutschen Sicherheits- und Verteidigungsindustrie e.V (BDSV) in cooperation with the Norwegian Defence and Security industry Association (FSi) in Berlin the 8th and 9th of February 2016. State Secretary Øystein Bø and the National Armaments Director Morten Tiller participated in the seminar, which focused on the future submarine project and other defence projects where there is a potential for industrial and defence related cooperation between Norway and Germany.

A major part of the materiel cooperation will be the common project for new submarines. The partnership includes a procurement of identical submarines and cooperation on training, exercises, spare parts, maintenance and lifetime-management of the new submarines, as well as industrial cooperation between German and Norwegian defence industry.

"Norway and Germany will procure identical submarines. This cooperation will provide us with significant synergies and savings throughout the service life of the submarines. Kongsberg, tkMS and Atlas Elektronik have established a joint venture that will deliver the Combat Management System for the German and Norwegian submarines. There is also a large potential for further sales of the Combat Management System to other countries. As part of our agreement, we are also going to cooperate on further development and procurement of the Naval Strike Missile (NSM). The NSM is in service in the Norwegian Navy, and Germany is planning a significant acquisition of missiles for its Navy. This provides great opportunities for the defence industry in both countries", said Eriksen Søreide.

The cooperation with Germany will ensure that Norway gets world-class submarines, with significant involvement of the Norwegian defence industry within their technological areas of expertise. The long-term strategic partnership will help secure and create high-tech jobs in both nations

Germany and Norway are now working closely together on procuring the new identical submarines, the 212CD. The procurement organisations Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (NDMA) and the Bundesamt für Ausrüstnung, Informationstechnik und Nutzung der Bundeswehr (BAAINBw) are now in a commercial process with the submarine supplier thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (tkMS), who in turn is in the process with a large number of potential subcontractors from a variety of different nations. A binding offer is expected from tkMS in mid-2018. Germany and Norway will then start negotiations with the shipyard, with the aim of signing a contract in 2019.

Preparation for the necessary buildings and infrastructure projects related to the new submarines is under way. Norway is planning to reuse and update existing infrastructure wherever possible. In addition, a project for a new maintenance facility is being prepared. This facility is necessary for Norway to retain the capability to maintenance of the new submarines.

Italy, the Netherlands and Poland are planning procurement of new submarines in the same period as Norway and Germany. German and Norway are working together towards these nations with the hope of gaining more submarine partners in order for all to achieve greater synergies and economies of scale.

On 31 October 2017 the two companies Kongsberg and ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) announced a joint venture for joint development of command and weapon deployment systems. As Kongsberg announced, the joint venture will be called kta Naval Systems and, as the exclusive supplier of submarines from TKMS, will develop, produce and maintain Combat Systems. kta Naval Systems will be headquartered in the Norwegian town of Kongsberg and with another office in Bremen. According to the information, 50 percent of the shares in Kongsberg, the remaining 50 percent in TKMS and its wholly owned subsidiary Atlas Elektronik. Kathrin Rohloff, who comes from TKMS, will manage kta Naval Systems as managing director, explained a Kongsberg spokesman. The company is to supply the Combat System for the new Norwegian-German submarines of the Class 212 CD as well as all future submarines built by TKMS. According to reports, the joint venture will initially have 16 to 18 employees, but their number is to be increased.

The 212 CD gets a greater range and probably lithium iron phosphate batteries (there is no German manufacturer). The battery technology is to come from Saft from France. The result is 20% performance increase at low speeds and 200-300% at maximum speed. At the 2018 the trade fair for marine technology, Euronaval, takes place in Le Bourget in front of Paris. The German system supplier for submarines and naval vessels, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (tkMS), is presenting the prototype of a new lithium-ion battery system for submarines, which has been developed in collaboration with the French company Saft (Société des Accumulateurs Fixes et de Traction).

The battery was presented in conjunction with the upgraded submarine class 212 Common Design (CD), from which Germany and Norway will own two and four submarines in the future. When the lithium-ion batteries are installed in the submarines, they are among the world's first with this technological equipment.

Rolf Wirtz, Managing Director of tkMS, points out that the use of new battery technology offers enormous tactical advantages. For example, the submarines can travel at maximum speed regardless of the state of charge of the battery. "We are in the process of initiating a new era of submarine construction. Compared with conventional lead acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries are significantly less maintenance-intensive and have a much longer service life, "states a press release published by tkMS at the same time as the trade fair. The new submarine batteries are subject to extremely high safety requirements, because a fire underwater can have catastrophic consequences. Thyssenkrupp reports that "extremely successful" tests have been performed at the cell and system level and the required test program is expected to be completed within one year.

IDAS is provided and controlled by an independent notebook (no FüWES integration) - NSM, however, as usual, once not. A new "diamond cut" outer shell shape is planned for stealth, which is why the flank array sonar is attached at an angle. Still in dispute as of late 2018 was the rescue system, ie whether a pressure-resistant center bulkhead bisects the boat, makes it longer and heavier and makes redundant system necessary for both halves. The German side would like to renounce this international standard. It is also being considered to update the 6x 212A's FüWES (from "kta naval systems") and to bring it together, and in the course of which to exchange sonar.

IDAS is an option. Nowadays, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) is mainly carried out by airborne units ­– mostly helicopters equipped with dipping sonar and lightweight torpedoes. Submarines remain vulnerable to these threats. Usually, the only available option is to hide at greater depths or even leave the area of operations. Especially when restricted by coastal or shallow waters, differing salt content or temperatures, this typical avoidance of detection is frequently not an option. The mere presence of an airborne ASW unit already limits the submarine's operational options. That is why Diehl Defence and thyssenkrupp Marine Systems cooperated in the IDAS Consortium to develop the IDAS weapon system ­– Interactive Defense and Attack System for Submarines – to enable a submerged submarine to actively defend itself against airborne ASW threats.