Germany triples submarine order to six boats in joint buy with Norway

PARIS — Germany will buy four more submarines from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems to increase the number of boats to six, part of a joint purchase with Norway that may also see the Nordic country increase its order, according to the German defense ministry.

Norway plans to buy an additional two submarines on top of four already ordered, the Bundeswehr procurement office said in a statement on Thursday. The two countries in 2021 had announced plans to jointly buy six 212 Common Design submarines from ThyssenKrupp in a deal worth about €5.5 billion (US$5.7 billion).

Germany announced the submarine contract extension as part of €21 billion in defense spending approved by the Bundestag, the country’s parliament, on Wednesday. Other approvals including the go-ahead for the F127 anti-air warfare frigate, Elbit Systems’ PULS rocket artillery, missiles for the Patriot air-defense system, reactive armor for the Puma infantry fighting vehicle and the development of sea-to-air missiles.

“The cooperation with our Norwegian partner will provide our two armed forces with new opportunities for deployment in the context of national and alliance defense, particularly on NATO’s northern flank,” Annette Lehnigk-Emden, the head of the Bundeswehr procurement office, said in the statement.

The 212CD submarines for Germany and Norway are on schedule, ThyssenKrupp said in a separate statement . The yard started production in September 2023, and the six vessels for the German Navy will be delivered starting in 2032, with one boat every year through 2037. The Norwegian Navy is scheduled to receive its first submarine in the new class as early as 2029.

The 212CD submarine will have a length of about 74 meters and a beam of 10 meters, and displace around 2,500 tons when surfaced. The vessel is based on the 212A submarine in service with the German Navy, which has a length of around 58 meters and a displacement of 1,500 tons.

Advance payments related to the order expansion will have a positive impact on cash flow in the current financial year, ThyssenKrupp said.

The company says it invested more than €250 million at its location in Kiel, Germany, to add production capacity for the submarine program with the construction of a new shipbuilding hall. ThyssenKrupp also acquired additional shipyard capacity at the former site of MV Werften in Wismar to build submarines and surface vessels.

“With the expansion of the 212CD order, other countries could join this project in the near future,” ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems CEO Oliver Burkhard said in a statement. “Our strong position has now become even stronger.”

The close cooperation with Norway will allow for synergy in operations, logistics and maintenance, which should boost operational availability and reduce costs, according to the defense ministry’s procurement office.

ThyssenKrupp had offered an expeditionary variant of the 212CD, with an increased length of more than 80 meters and displacement of more than 3,000 tons, as its candidate for a submarine tender by the Netherlands. The Dutch in March awarded the contract to France’s Naval Group, which was offering a smaller, conventionally-powered version of its Barracuda submarine, with a surface displacement of 3,300 tons and a length of 82 meters.

As part of the spending approved by the Bundestag, Rheinmetall together with partner blackned GmbH won an order for IT-system integration worth about €1.2 billion over 10 years, the company said in a separate statement . The order is part of a Bundeswehr program to digitalize land-based operations, with Rheinmetall accounting for around €730 million of the contract volume, and the remaining €470 million for blackned.

As part of the same program, a project company set up by Rheinmetall and KNDS Deutschland won a six-year contract worth roughly €2 billion to equip around 10,000 Bundeswehr vehicles with digital radio equipment. Each company will account for half of the order value, with the work to start in mid-2025 and the equipment conversion complete by the end of 2030, KNDS said in a statement .

“The new technology will increase the command-and-control capability of the army units fundamentally, and improve the interoperability within the Bundeswehr and with NATO allies,” Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said in the statement.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——据德国国防部称，德国将从蒂森克虏伯海洋系统公司再购买四艘潜艇，使德国潜艇数量增加到六艘。此次采购是与挪威联合进行的，挪威也可能增加其订单。

德国联邦国防军采购办公室周四发表声明称，挪威计划在已订购的四艘潜艇基础上再增购两艘。两国曾在2021年宣布计划联合从蒂森克虏伯公司购买六艘212型通用设计潜艇，交易金额约为55亿欧元（约合57亿美元）。

德国周三宣布延长潜艇合同，这是联邦议院（德国议会）批准的210亿欧元国防开支计划的一部分。其他获批项目包括F127防空护卫舰、埃尔比特系统公司的PULS火箭炮、爱国者防空系统的导弹、美洲狮步兵战车的反应装甲以及海空导弹的研发。

德国联邦国防军采购办公室主任安妮特·莱尼克-埃姆登在声明中表示：“与挪威伙伴的合作将为我们两国武装部队在国家和联盟防御方面提供新的部署机会，尤其是在北约北翼。”

蒂森克虏伯在另一份声明中表示，为德国和挪威建造的212CD型潜艇正按计划进行。该船厂于2023年9月开始生产，为德国海军建造的六艘潜艇将从2032年开始交付，每年一艘，直至2037年。挪威海军计划最早于2029年接收其首艘该型潜艇。

212CD型潜艇长约74米，宽约10米，水面排水量约2500吨。该艇以德国海军现役的212A型潜艇为基础，后者长约58米，排水量1500吨。

蒂森克虏伯表示，与订单扩大相关的预付款将对本财年的现金流产生积极影响。

该公司表示，已在德国基尔的工厂投资超过2.5亿欧元，新建一座造船车间，以增加潜艇项目的产能。蒂森克虏伯还收购了位于维斯马的MV Werften造船厂旧址的额外造船产能，用于建造潜艇和水面舰艇。

蒂森克虏伯海事系统公司首席执行官奥利弗·布克哈德在一份声明中表示：“随着212CD订单的扩大，其他国家可能在不久的将来加入该项目。我们原本就强大的市场地位现在更加稳固了。”

据国防部采购办公室称，与挪威的密切合作将使作战、后勤和维护方面产生协同效应，这将提高作战可用性并降低成本。

蒂森克虏伯公司曾向荷兰提交了一份潜艇招标方案，其方案为212CD型潜艇的远征改进型，艇长超过80米，排水量超过3000吨。然而，荷兰最终在3月份将合同授予了法国海军集团，后者提交的方案是其梭鱼级潜艇的小型常规动力版本，水面排水量为3300吨，艇长82米。

莱茵金属公司在一份单独的声明中表示，作为德国联邦议院批准的支出项目的一部分，该公司与合作伙伴blackned GmbH共同赢得了一份价值约12亿欧元、为期10年的IT系统集成订单。该订单是德国联邦国防军陆上作战数字化项目的一部分，其中莱茵金属公司承担约7.3亿欧元的合同金额，blackned公司承担剩余的4.7亿欧元。

作为同一计划的一部分，莱茵金属公司和德国KNDS公司共同成立的项目公司赢得了一份价值约20亿欧元的六年期合同，将为约1万辆德国联邦国防军车辆配备数字无线电设备。KNDS在一份声明中表示，两家公司将各占订单金额的一半，工作将于2025年中期开始，设备改造将于2030年底完成。

莱茵金属公司首席执行官阿明·帕佩格尔在声明中表示：“这项新技术将从根本上提高陆军部队的指挥控制能力，并提高德国联邦国防军内部以及与北约盟国的互操作性。”

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。