Type 212CD Multi Purpose Submarine - Norway
Norway and Germany will procure identical submarines of type 212CD (Common Design). The long-term plan for Norway's Armed Forces provides for four new submarines to be put into operation by 2032. Germany will have two new submarines. The Storting provided a framework for the acquisition of four new type 212 submarines totaling NOK 41.4 billion.
This will be the Navy's largest investment ever, and it is Forsvarsmateriell that is responsible for the procurement and the majority of the project work. For the maritime nation Norway, the new submarines will ensure continued combat power at sea. The submarines provide important support to other parts of the Armed Forces. Among other things, the submarines are an invaluable support for the special forces, which can dive out of the submarine and reach their goal completely unnoticed. The new submarines will also have increased surveillance and intelligence capacity.
Norwegian sea areas are seven times larger than Norway's land areas and have great security policy significance, which is why the maritime areas are very important. Submarines are a strategic capacity with great significance for the defense capability and allied cooperation. The submarines' unique characteristics are particularly related to the ability to operate covertly for a long time, over large areas and with significant impact force. This has a deterrent effect and potentially ties up great strengths in an opponent. Submarines contribute to securing Norway's maritime interests and are crucial for securing its own borders as well as NATO's maritime flank in the north. A continuation of the submarine capacity is considered absolutely central for the Armed Forces to be able to maintain a deterrent effect.
A continuation of the submarine capacity is considered absolutely central for the Armed Forces to be able to maintain a deterrent effect. Norway's six Ula-class submarines were phased in in the period 1989-1992. These submarines are slowly but surely nearing the end of their lives, but through the acquisition of critical spare parts and good planning, four out of six Ula submarines will be kept operational until new submarines are in place.
Conceptual studies related to future submarine capacity began in 2007. The project has since been through three rounds of external quality assurance and three government proceedings, before the Storting approved investment in four new submarines in the spring of 2017. Norway and Germany have entered into a strategic partnership for new submarines. The collaboration is based on the acquisition of, and extensive collaboration around, identical submarines.
In recent years, the Ministry of Defense has worked to create extensive submarine cooperation with other countries, among other things with a view to being able to reduce the costs of acquiring and operating the submarines. In parallel with the work towards the shipyards, the processes for seeking cooperation with other nations that have plans to procure, but which do not themselves produce submarines, will continue. This primarily applied to the Netherlands and Poland. Cooperation is important to ensure that we acquire a robust capacity that we are not alone in maintaining and updating in the future. In order to bring about such a collaboration, several conditions must be satisfied. This requires, for example, equality in requirements specifications and that the nations have synchronized procurement in time. Nations must also seek common solutions for logistics and lifetime support.
The Ministry of Defense led work to investigate the acquisition of new submarines. This project was in the definition phase, and was investigating the acquisition of new submarines to replace the current Ula class. The definition phase was planned to be completed in the first half of 2016, including external quality assurance of the decision basis (KS2). The Ministry of Defense had not made any choice of supplier, and was at this point in the process dealing with several relevant providers of submarines. It was therefore important in this phase to inform everyone as equally as possible. The Ministry of Defense and the project were still in a process where there were active discussions with several potential partner nations, where the scope for achieving Norway's ambition of extensive submarine cooperation with one or more of these countries was discussed and evaluated.
Following economic, industrial and military assessments, on 07 April 2016 the Ministry of Defense concluded that the French company Direction des Constructions Navales Services (DCNS) and the German company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) are the strongest supplier candidates if Norway decides to acquire new submarines. According to the Ministry of Defense, this conclusion is based on economic, industrial and military assessments. Further work will now be focused on these two companies and their national authorities. "France and Germany are among the largest nations in Europe. A submarine cooperation with one of these will ensure that Norway gets the submarines we need, at the same time as we contribute to Smart Defense and a more efficient materiel cooperation in NATO", said Minister of Defense Ine Eriksen Søreide.
DCNS and TKMS are the largest manufacturers of submarines in Western Europe, they have extensive experience in building advanced submarines and they have large industrial capacity. The submarines offered by these companies will be a good starting point for Norway's future submarine capacity. "Norway's approach is to base a possible procurement on an existing submarine design. We thus avoid a comprehensive development project with the uncertainties and costs it may entail. Our criteria is therefore that the submarines must be built at a shipyard that has long and continuous experience in building submarines", said the Minister of Defense.
Class 212A has been in use in the German Navy since 2005. The German Navy has a total of six 212As, two of which are an improved version that has been in use since 2014. There are also two 212A licensed buildings in Italy for the Italian Navy. In Norway, it was announced in February 2017 that four 212As would be purchased for the Norwegian Navy. These will be phased in from the mid-2020s, at the same time as the Navy's current Ula-class submarines will be phased out. The German shipyard ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems will build the Norwegian submarines.
In early February 2017 the Norwegian Government decided on Germany as strategic partner for new submarines. The partnership is based on a German-Norwegian common purchase and lifetime management agreement on identical, new submarines. The decision involves a broad and long-term Navy-to-Navy cooperation encompassing submarines and other naval capabilities. The cooperation will include the purchase of identical submarines and cooperation on training, exercises, spare parts, maintenance and lifetime management of the new submarines. The submarines will be based on the 212-design already in service in Germany and Italy. The cooperation also includes cooperation between Norwegian and German industry.
Submarines are among the Norwegian Armed Forces’ most important capabilities and are of great significance for the ability to protect Norway’s maritime interests. It is important that Norway found a strategic partner that can build a broad and long lasting cooperation with. This lays a good foundation for the long-term relations needed to maintain a credible submarine capability in the future. Submarine cooperation with Germany will ensure that Norway gets the submarines required, and at the same time contributing to Smart defence and more efficient defence materiel cooperation in NATO, says the Minister of Defence Ine Eriksen Søreide.
The Norwegian Ministry of Defence has practised equal treatment of the suppliers and their nations. The same amount of time and effort has been spent towards France and Germany, and the activities towards both have been balanced. It has been clearly communicated on all levels that it is the totality of the offers that will be the determining factor. Both France and Germany offer excellent submarines that met Norwegian needs, and both nations have been given good opportunities to come up with a total offer on new submarines and cooperation.
Norway entered into final negotiations with German authorities. When a government-to-government agreement is in place, a German-Norwegian negotiation towards the German submarine supplier thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (tkMS) would commence. tkMS is the largest producer of conventional submarines in Western Europe. The shipyard has extensive experience with building advanced submarines and a large production capability. The plan was to sign a common contract for new submarines in 2019. This would enable delivery of new submarines from the mid-2020’s to 2030. This timeline ensured a continuous Norwegian submarine capability as the Ula-class submarines reach their end of life and enter the decommissioning stage.
The submarines Norway and Germany would procure, ensure a submarine service for the future. Norway has an evolutionary approach to new submarines, and will base the procurement on an existing submarine design. This way Norway avoidd an extensive development project with the risks and costs this would involve. In addition, together with Germany, Norway would get a larger scale in the production, says the Minister of Defence.
Many of the systems to be used in the submarines have been developed in Norway. Among other things, the sensor systems will be delivered by the Kongsberg Group . A variant of the Norwegian sea target missile NSM for use by submarines is also being developed. The Kongsberg Group regarded the selection of German submarines of the “212” class as a point in their favor. The procurement of four such vessels will be the biggest defence contract since the F-35 fighters. But the exact procurement value will not be clear until the Government submits an investment proposition this spring, emphasises the Minister of Defence, Ms Ine Eriksen Søreide.
Independent of this decision, the work to establish further cooperation with other nations continue in order to achieve even greater synergies and economies of scale. Norway had for several years worked closely towards the Netherlands and Poland to create a broad submarine cooperation. This work will continue. In a press release, DCNS stated that the company took note of the choice of Norway to interrupt the competitive process before its conclusion in order to choose an alternative solution in the framework of a joint intergovernmental procurement with another European country.
In January 2018 the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI) signed a collaboration agreement with the German BAAINBw (Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-service Support), which is responsible for a number of German research institutes, including WTD 71 (Bundeswehr Technical Center for Ships and Naval Weapons, Maritime Technology and Research). Together, the parties will conduct research and development of technology for submarines, missiles and mining countermeasures. The agreement also involves testing and evaluation of technological solutions and equipment, as well as updating and further development of the solutions as long as the systems are in operation. In late April 2019, German and Norwegian defence officials met in Munich for talks about the progress, cost, performances and capacities of the 212CD program. After the meeting, German Navy chief, Vice Admiral Andreas Krause noted: "After a successful meeting, we are convinced that we want to make U212CD a success story. We will act and speak as if we were ONE Navy. Both navies need the new submarines delivered in time, cost and quality. Everyone involved in this project should never forget its relevance."
According to Defence News, Sebastian Bruns, a naval analyst with the University of Kiel commented that the interplay between the German and Norwegian defence bureaucracies will be crucial as the program progresses: "This type of integrated process is new for Germany. That is because 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."
On 27 April 2020 the Ministry of Defense announced that Germany and Norway would jointly procure identical submarines. A revised offer from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems was received at the end of February and negotiations are now underway. Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems submitted a revised offer for new submarines to the procurement organizations. Defense materiel was in formal negotiations with its supplier BAAINBw. It is a large and complex contract to be signed, where a large part of the community's resources are used. It is therefore important to spend the time necessary to ensure a solid contract that provides a good submarine that both nations are happy with. The negotiations will thus continue until such a contract is in place. It was an objective to have a fully negotiated contract during 2020. However, the COVID 19 situation could affect the process. Measures had been implemented to reduce this. Delivery time and delivery schedule for the new submarines were part of the contract negotiations.
Norway had six Ula-class submarines. Today's six Ula-class submarines were phased in between 1989 and 1992. Technological developments mean that the properties of the Ula-class, which are based on an 80's design and the technology of the time, will in the long run not be sufficient against modern, high-tech threats. Studies indicate that it is possible to extend the life of the Ula class to a limited extent. Thus, Norway will be able to retain the required number of operational submarines, even if the new submarines are somewhat delayed in relation to the original plan.
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