TKMS and ST Engineering to create submarine service ‘hub’ in Singapore

COLOGNE, Germany — Germany’s TKMS and Singapore-based ST Engineering’s naval division signed an agreement on Tuesday toward the establishment of a joint submarine maintenance center in Singapore.

The envisioned center would service the Asian nation’s own TKMS boats of the 218SG class, as well as submarines built by the German shipbuilder for allied nations navigating in the area, TKMS said in a statement.

The signing of a memorandum of understanding to that end coincided with a visit to Singapore by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who praised the tiny nation as Berlin’s decades-long ally in the Asia-Pacific region.

Pistorius’ remarks about the companies’ submarine plans lent an air of grand strategy to the pact, as he described the idea of a submarine “hub” that could serve global nations with an interest protecting maritime trade routes — and who happen to have bought submarines from TKMS.

Singapore has ordered six submarines of the 218SG type from the German shipyard, known as the Invincible class, three of which are already delivered.

The city state also buys land weapons from Germany, having amassed what Pistorius called a “big” fleet of Leopard 2 tanks. Various reports peg the number of tanks at 170 tanks or more.

Pistorius said he was delighted to hear Singapore is also considering buying Boeing P-8 maritime-surveillance aircraft, which would create another element of armament commonality with Germany. Berlin received its first P-8 out of an envisioned fleet of eight earlier this year, he added, noting that aircraft already saw service in the Indo-Pacific area.

Editor’s note: An attribution in this article was corrected to reflect TKMS as the sole author of a statement about servicing TKMS submarines, not a joint declaration by both companies.

Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.

德国科隆——德国TKMS公司和新加坡ST Engineering公司的海军部门周二签署了一项协议，旨在新加坡建立一个联合潜艇维修中心。

TKMS在一份声明中表示，设想中的中心将为该国自己的218SG级TKMS潜艇以及德国造船厂为在该地区航行的盟国建造的潜艇提供服务。

为此签署谅解备忘录的同时，德国国防部长鲍里斯·皮斯托瑞斯访问了新加坡，他称赞这个小国是柏林在亚太地区数十年的盟友。

皮斯托瑞斯关于这些公司潜艇计划的言论，为该协议增添了一丝宏大战略的色彩。他描述了一个潜艇“枢纽”的想法，该枢纽可以为那些有兴趣保护海上贸易航线的全球国家提供服务——而这些国家恰好从TKMS购买了潜艇。

新加坡已向德国造船厂订购了六艘 218SG 型潜艇，即所谓的“无敌”级潜艇，其中三艘已经交付。

这个城邦还从德国购买陆军武器，并囤积了皮斯托瑞斯所说的“庞大”的豹2坦克部队。各种报告估计坦克数量在170辆或更多。

皮斯托瑞斯表示，他很高兴听到新加坡也在考虑购买波音P-8海上巡逻机，这将进一步加强新加坡与德国的武器通用性。他还补充说，柏林今年早些时候接收了计划中的8架P-8巡逻机中的第一架，并指出这些飞机已经在印太地区服役。

编者注：本文中的一处归属已更正，以反映 TKMS 是有关 TKMS 潜艇维修声明的唯一作者，而不是两家公司的联合声明。

塞巴斯蒂安·斯普伦格是《防务新闻》欧洲版副主编，负责报道该地区的防务市场状况，以及美欧在防务和全球安全领域的合作和多国投资。此前，他曾担任《防务新闻》执行主编。他现居德国科隆。