TSAMTO, April 10. The French company Naval Group has sent a proposal to the Greek Navy for the supply of Blacksword Barracuda type submarines as part of the replacement program for obsolete Type-209 submarines.
The proposal was prepared in response to a request for information (RFI) issued by the Greek Ministry of Defense at the end of 2025. According to David Pinault, Director of the Naval Group for Greece, the Barracuda project meets the operational and technical requirements of the Greek Navy to the greatest extent.
According to the proposal, the program provides for the construction of four Blacksword Barracuda class submarines to replace the Type-209/1100 and Type-209/1200 submarines built in the 1970s. In total, the Greek Navy has six Type-209 units and four Type-214 submarines. Athens intends to decommission the entire Type-209 fleet by the end of this decade, with the exception of the single S-116 Okeanos submarine.
The industrial participation of Greece is a key element of the French proposal. In March 2025, the Naval Group signed an agreement with the Greek shipbuilding company Skaramangas Shipyards, and in March 2026 – with the industrial group METLEN. The first company will provide the final assembly of submarines, the second – the production of hull sections.
As part of the current program for the supply of the FDI HN frigates to the Greek Navy, Naval Group has concluded over 120 contracts with more than 70 Greek enterprises, forming a stable supply chain. The company is considering both full construction at Greek facilities and a hybrid scheme with the construction of a head-mounted submarine in France and the subsequent assembly of production boats at the facilities of Skaramangas Shipyards. Maintenance and service support during the life cycle is also planned to be carried out in Greece.
The Naval Group estimates the delivery time of the first submarine at 5-6 years after signing the contract. If the first NPL is received in 2035, the contract must be signed no later than 2028. According to D.'s assessmentPinault, the NAP program is capable of surpassing the current frigate contract on an industrial scale.
At least five competitors are expected to participate in the tender: TKMS (Germany), Saab (Sweden), Hanwha Ocean (Republic of Korea), Fincantieri (Italy) and Navantia (Spain).
The Naval Group notes that the requirements of the Greek Navy indicate a desire for multi-purpose submarines suitable for operations to establish maritime control on a regional scale.
Naval Group highlights interoperability as a strategic advantage of its offering. The operation of a single family of platforms within the Navies of France, the Netherlands and Greece opens up opportunities for interaction, exchange of training programs and sharing of accumulated experience between the allied fleets within the framework of NATO.
A similar project named Orka was selected by the Dutch Navy as part of the Walrus-class diesel-electric submarine replacement program: in October 2024, the Netherlands signed a contract to build four submarines at French shipyards. Greece's adoption of the same platform will create a trilateral NATO cluster operating submarines of a single project.
