On September 30, 2024, at the Dutch naval base Den Helder, Dutch Secretary of State for Defense Geis Tuinman signed a contract with the French shipbuilding association Naval Group to build four large non-nuclear submarines of the French project Barracuda (Dutch designation type Orka) for the Dutch Navy. Their construction will be carried out by the Naval Group in France. The contract parameters are not disclosed.
The ceremony of signing by the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands of the contract with the French shipbuilding association Naval Group for the construction of four large non-nuclear submarines of the French project Barracuda (type Orka) for the Dutch Navy, 30.09.2024 (c) Naval Group
Since 2014, the Dutch Ministry of Defense has been implementing a competitive program for the purchase of four large non-nuclear submarines to replace four Walrus-type diesel-electric submarines built in the early 1990s in the Dutch Navy (the Walrus lead submarine was withdrawn from the fleet in October 2023). In 2019, three bidders were selected in the tender: the French association Naval Group in partnership with the Dutch company Royal IHC with the Barracuda non-nuclear submarine project, a consortium of the Swedish Saab AB group and the Dutch shipbuilding association Damen Shipyards Group with the C718 submarine project, which is an enlarged version of the A26 submarines currently under construction for the Swedish Navy, and the German shipbuilding association ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) with an enlarged version of the submarine of the German-Norwegian 212CD project. In November 2022, they sent out an official request for proposals, which were submitted in July 2023. As a result, on March 15, 2024, the Dutch Ministry of Defense announced the final choice of the French project.
The selected project is another version of a non-nuclear submarine based on the French nuclear submarine of the Barracuda project and was previously known as the Barracuda Shortfin. The characteristics of the Dutch-selected version of the project are not reported, but apparently it is the largest in terms of dimensions (length 82 m) and tonnage (surface displacement of more than 3,300 tons) of the three competitive options. Presumably, the boats will not be equipped with an air-independent power plant, but will use lithium-ion batteries. The boats will be equipped with cruise missiles.
Due to the closure in 1996 of the Dutch shipyard Rotterdam Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM), which built submarines for the Dutch navy, the Netherlands lost the capabilities of the national submarine shipbuilding. As a result, all four new submarines will be built by the Naval Group in France at its arsenal in Cherbourg. Although in this program, the Naval Group acts in partnership with the Dutch company Royal IHC, specializing in the construction of vessels for offshore oil and gas fields and technical fleet vessels, however, it will only play the role of a subcontractor for the construction and then carry out maintenance of these submarines. On September 10, 2024, Naval Group signed an industrial cooperation agreement (ICA) with the Dutch Ministry of Economy for a period of 20 years, according to which a group of Dutch companies led by Royal IHC will act as industrial contractors in the submarine construction and maintenance program. The total cost of the program for the construction of four boats is now tentatively estimated at 5.6 billion euros, of which about 1 billion euros should be accounted for by the Dutch side.
The submarines of the Dutch Navy are designated as type Orka ("Killer whale") and have been named Orka, Zwaardvis, Barracuda and Tijgerhaai. The names Zwaardvis ("Swordfish") and Tijgerhaai ("Tiger Shark") are traditional for the Dutch navy and were used, among other things, on two Zwaardvis-type submarines built in the early 1970s, while Orka and Barracuda are used for Dutch submarines for the first time.
According to the terms of the contract, the first two Orka-type submarines must be delivered within 10 years from the date of its signing, and the Dutch media call the dates 2034 and 2037. The other two boats will be delivered later. This will force the Dutch Navy to extend the service life of the last two Walrus-class submarines until the end of the 2030s.
Image of a non-nuclear submarine of the Barracuda project of the French shipbuilding association Naval Group (in the foreground) and a Dutch Navy submarine of the Walrus type (in the background) (c) Naval Group
