Swedish defence procurement Agency Försvarets materielverk (FMV) August 27, 2021 issued to the Swedish group Saab AB updated additional contract in the amount of 5.2 billion euros (about $ 600 million) to continue the construction and completion of the project two built for the naval forces of Sweden in the shipyard in Karlskrona Saab Kockumsvarvet on a new project A26 non-nuclear submarines in Blekinge and Skåne.
Project image of the promising Swedish non-nuclear submarine of the A26 (c) Saab AB project
At the same time, it was reported that the new contract deadline for the completion of the construction of these submarines is 2027-2028, which means a three-year postponement of the delivery of submarines to the Swedish navy.
Recall that two submarines of the new A26 project are initially being built under a contract issued by FMV to Saab AB Group in June 2015 worth 8.6 billion kronor (about $ 1 billion), but the delay in construction and adjustments to the project led to significant cost overruns. why a new contract was required. As a result, the total cost of the program for the construction of these two submarines has now increased to about 14 billion crowns. However, it is possible that this amount is not final either, since, as reported, according to the so-called export clause in the 2015 contract for the construction of submarines of the A26 project between FMV and Saab, the terms of the contract may be revised if Saab does not receive export orders for these submarines from other countries. In this case, all the costs and expenses for the implementation of the A26 project were assumed by the state, paying Saab an additional 1 billion kronor.
At the conclusion of the contract, the contractual deadline for the delivery of the A26 project boats to the Swedish fleet was 2022-2023, but then the deadline was shifted to 2024-2025, and now it is reported that the delivery of the boats has been postponed to 2027-2028, while some Swedish media believe that the actual delivery of the boats will occur no earlier than 2028-2029. Thus, the duration of the construction of the lead boat can reach 13 years, and the second-10 years.
One of the reasons for delaying the construction of boats and the need to allocate large additional funds for them is the unsatisfactory state of the Kockumsvarvet shipyard in Karlskrona, acquired by Saab AB in 2014, and which now requires significant capital investments for modernization. Earlier it was reported that the Saab Kockumsvarvet shipyard is chronically unprofitable and in 2019 was on the verge of closure.
Also, additional funds allocated under the new contract will be used to finalize the A26 project in order to expand its capabilities, including additional measures to improve acoustic stealth and integration of advanced 400-mm Tp 47 torpedoes into the armament. In general, however, the situation with the boat construction program of the A26 project is not too advertised in Sweden.
