Babcock, Fincantieri, Saab seek Poland ties as ‘Orca’ sub award nears

WARSAW, Poland — U.K. company Babcock International, Sweden’s Saab and Italian Fincantieri have signed deals to boost cooperation with Polish state-run defense group PGZ.

The developments come as Poland’s Ministry of National Defence is accelerating efforts to select new submarines that will expand its capacities in the Baltic Sea’s shallow waters, a program all three companies have shown interest in.

The European players inked cooperation agreements with PGZ on the first day of this year’s MSPO defense industry show in Kielce, Poland, which runs Sept. 2-5.

Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Poland’s deputy prime minister and defense minister, has said Warsaw plans to order between three and four new submarines for the naval forces by the end of 2025.

The planned procurement, which is to be implemented under the Orka (Orca) program, is urgent as the Navy relies on a single outdated Soviet-designed submarine, the Kilo-class ORP Orzel.

Meanwhile, PGZ’s central role in the Polish defense industry makes it an attractive partner for foreign players competing for what could be the largest naval program in Poland’s history.

Pierroberto Folgiero, the CEO and managing director of Fincantieri, said his company aims to contribute to Poland’s “ambitious naval modernization plans.”

“With a legacy of more than 180 submarines built and a proven track record in advanced naval platforms, we bring unparalleled expertise to support the Orka program and to develop a long-term industrial cooperation with PGZ and the national defense industry,” according to Folgiero.

Babcock and PGZ already cooperate on a major naval project, and the U.K. group hopes to expand it to Orka. Under the Miecznik (Swordfish) program, PGZ is leading a consortium to build three frigates based on the design of Babcock’s Arrowhead 140 vessel. Deliveries of the vessels to the country’s Navy are scheduled for the years 2026 to 2032.

“The UK and Poland has longstanding close ties, and this growing industrial partnership with PGZ SA will deepen our relationship and accelerate our support for the Polish armed forces, alongside our joint global ambitions across air and marine domains,” said David Lockwood, the CEO of Babcock. “The Miecznik program is a great example of the benefits our relationship is already delivering.”

Micael Johansson, the president and CEO of Saab, said in a statement there “is great potential for expanding the existing partnership between our nations to ensure security and stability in Europe, including the Baltic Sea region.”

Sweden’s efforts were bolstered on Sept. 2 by the signing of a Polish-Swedish defense cooperation agreement following an official meeting between Kosiniak-Kamysz and his counterpart, Pål Jonson, at the MSPO show.

Poland’s centrist government is under increasing political pressure to carry out the submarine purchase. On Aug. 15, Polish President Karol Nawrocki, who represents the opposition party, said during the Armed Forces Day parade in Warsaw “we must implement the Orka program.”

“This is because, as sailors have told me, we need to have Polish submarines, and sailors have waited for them for years, for decades. This is the direction in which we must move forward,” Nawrocki said.

Numerous countries are competing to secure the potential order from Poland. In 2023, Warsaw announced 11 entities took part in a market consultation . Known competitors include Babcock, Fincantieri and Saab, as well as France’s Naval Group , German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, Spain’s Navantia, South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean and Hyundai.

In May 2025, a spokesperson for the Polish ministry told Defense News its experts assigned the highest scores to the offers placed by Germany, Italy and Sweden. However, while these three offers received the highest scores from the Polish Armaments Agency, the military’s procurement arm, the remaining submarine offers have not been discarded amid ongoing talks with foreign governments, according to the spokesperson.

In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has established itself as one of the alliance’s top spenders . For 2025, Warsaw plans to allocate a total of PLN 186.6 billion ($51 billion) to its armed forces. This would enable the nation’s military expenditure to reach an estimated 4.7% of its gross domestic product this year.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——英国巴布科克国际公司、瑞典萨博公司和意大利芬坎蒂尼集团已签署协议，以加强与波兰国有国防集团PGZ的合作。

波兰国防部正在加快遴选新型潜艇的步伐，以扩大其在波罗的海浅水区的作战能力，而这三家公司都对该计划表现出了兴趣。

在今年 9 月 2 日至 5 日于波兰凯尔采举行的 MSPO 防务工业展的第一天，欧洲企业与 PGZ 签署了合作协议。

波兰副总理兼国防部长瓦迪斯瓦夫·科西尼亚克-卡梅什表示，华沙计划在 2025 年底前为海军订购三到四艘新潜艇。

这项计划中的采购将在 Orka（虎鲸）计划下实施，由于海军目前仅依靠一艘过时的苏联设计的基洛级 ORP Orzel 潜艇，因此这项采购计划非常紧迫。

与此同时，PGZ在波兰国防工业中的核心地位使其成为外国企业竞相参与波兰历史上规模最大的海军项目的理想合作伙伴。

Fincantieri 首席执行官兼总经理 Pierroberto Folgiero 表示，他的公司旨在为波兰“雄心勃勃的海军现代化计划”做出贡献。

“我们拥有建造超过 180 艘潜艇的悠久历史，并在先进的海军平台方面拥有良好的业绩记录，我们带来了无与伦比的专业知识来支持 Orka 项目，并与 PGZ 和国防工业发展长期的工业合作，”Folgiero 表示。

巴布科克公司和PGZ公司已在一项大型海军项目上展开合作，这家英国集团希望将合作范围扩大到奥尔卡。根据“剑鱼”（Miecznik）计划，PGZ公司牵头一个联合体，将基于巴布科克公司的“箭头140”（Arrowhead 140）型护卫舰的设计建造三艘护卫舰。这些舰艇计划于2026年至2032年间交付给该国海军。

“英国和波兰有着长期紧密的联系，与PGZ SA公司日益深化的工业伙伴关系将加深我们之间的关系，并加快我们对波兰武装部队的支持，同时推进我们在航空和海洋领域的共同全球目标，”巴布科克公司首席执行官大卫·洛克伍德表示。“Miecznik项目正是我们合作关系已取得成效的绝佳例证。”

萨博公司总裁兼首席执行官米凯尔·约翰逊在一份声明中表示，“我们两国之间现有的伙伴关系有很大的扩展潜力，以确保欧洲（包括波罗的海地区）的安全与稳定。”

9 月 2 日，瑞典国防部长科西尼亚克-卡米什与波兰国防部长帕尔·约翰逊在 MSPO 展会上举行正式会晤后，签署了波兰-瑞典防务合作协议，这进一步加强了瑞典的努力。

波兰中间派政府面临着越来越大的政治压力，要求其完成潜艇采购。8月15日，代表反对党的波兰总统卡罗尔·纳沃茨基在华沙举行的武装部队日阅兵式上表示，“我们必须实施奥尔卡计划”。

“正如水兵们告诉我的那样，我们需要波兰潜艇，而且水兵们已经为此等待了多年，甚至几十年。这才是我们必须前进的方向，”纳沃茨基说道。

众多国家竞相争取波兰的潜在订单。2023年，华沙宣布有11家企业参与了市场咨询。已知的竞争对手包括巴布科克、芬坎蒂尼和萨博，以及法国海军集团、德国蒂森克虏伯海事系统公司、西班牙纳凡蒂亚、韩国韩华海洋和现代汽车。

2025年5月，波兰国防部发言人告诉《防务新闻》，其专家对德国、意大利和瑞典的报价给予了最高分。然而，这位发言人表示，尽管这三份报价获得了波兰军备局（军方采购机构）的最高评分，但在与外国政府的谈判仍在进行中，其他潜艇报价并未被排除在外。

在俄罗斯于2022年入侵乌克兰之后，波兰已成为北约军费开支最高的国家之一。华沙计划在2025年向其武装部队拨款1866亿兹罗提（约合510亿美元）。这将使该国今年的军费开支达到其国内生产总值的约4.7%。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。