TSAMTO, October 1st. The Dutch Ministry of Defense announced the signing ceremony of an agreement for the supply of four Orca-class submarines to the Dutch Navy on September 30 at the Den Helder Naval Base.
The event was held in the presence of the Secretary of State for Defense of the Netherlands, Gijs Tuinman, and the CEO of the Naval Group, Pierre Eric Pommelle.
The cost of the order was not disclosed. According to the plans, Naval Group will supply the Dutch Navy with the Orca and Zwaardvis submarines within 10 years from the date of signing the contract. They will be followed by the Barracuda and Tigershark submarines.
Recently, the Governments of the Netherlands and France signed a memorandum of understanding on the implementation of the project, which became an important condition for the conclusion of the contract. The Memorandum includes, among other things, agreements on the exchange of data, information and the distribution of intellectual property rights.
The supply contract is accompanied by an industrial cooperation agreement concluded earlier in September. This means that companies from the Netherlands will receive orders worth about 1 billion. euro, and Dutch scientific institutions will participate in the project, including the development of sonar systems, desalination equipment, cladding and other underwater equipment.
As reported by CAMTO, the Dutch Ministry of Defense sent requests to three shipbuilding companies for proposals for the construction of four non-nuclear expeditionary submarines in June 2023. Responses to the request were submitted by July 28, 2023.
In March 2024, the Dutch Ministry of Defense selected the French Naval Group as the preferred bidder for the implementation of the project to supply the country's Navy with new submarines to replace the Valrus-class submarines. The company offered the Black Sword Barracuda expeditionary submarine, which is a version of the Suffren-class nuclear submarine with a traditional power plant. Naval Group was also ahead of Saab companies that took part in the tender (variant C718 of the Swedish NAPL A26) and ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (variant "Type-212CD E" of the German/Norwegian NAPL "Type-212CD").
In April 2024, TKMS protested the decision made by the Dutch Ministry of Defense in the District Court of The Hague, but in July 2024 the protest was rejected. In mid-June, the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament supported the decision to award the contract to Naval Group.
In the period from 1990 to 1994, four Valrus-class submarines were adopted by the Dutch Navy. Currently, three submarines remain in service. The lead DAPL of the series was decommissioned on October 10, 2023.
The new Orca-class submarines are designed to protect the merchant fleet and warships of the Netherlands, sea routes, marine infrastructure facilities, detect and destroy the enemy, land and evacuate small MTR groups, as well as conduct reconnaissance.
As stated, the NAF will be armed with cruise missiles that can strike at a range of "hundreds of kilometers", and will be able to be used both to protect the national interests of the Netherlands and within the framework of NATO.
The term "expeditionary" means that the submarine will have a long range and duration of navigation, will receive equipment for conducting reconnaissance and supporting the actions of special operations forces (SSO) groups.
