Can France return the courtesy to Germany on the subject of Dutch submarines?

While The Hague has accelerated the tempo of its program to replace Dutch submarines, France and Naval Group could position themselves by applying the same strategy as that employed by Germany and TKMS in Norway.

In 2017, the Norwegian authorities announced the end of the competition initiated for several years to replace the 6 Ula class submarines in service with the Royal Norwegian Navy since the beginning of the 80s.

Indeed, Berlin had proposed to Oslo to co-develop a new version of its Type 212 submarine, designated Type 212CD, and to order, in this case, two ships to reinforce the fleet of six submersibles in service within the German navy.

By doing so, all of the development costs were shared equally between Berlin and Oslo, and the Norwegian industrial compensation could also apply to the two ships ordered for the German navy, making the offer so attractive that Naval Group, the shipyard competing with TKMS in this competition, had to admit that it was unable to match the German offer.

The same situation could well happen again with regard to the competition currently being conducted by Amsterdam for the replacement of its Dutch Walrus-class submarines, and which opposes the French Naval Group with the Black Sword submarine from the Shortfin Barracuda family, a consortium formed by the Swedish Saab/Kockums and the Dutch Damen with a version derived from the A26, and the German TKMS with the Type 212 CD.

Indeed, Berlin is offering its Dutch partner to join the German-Norwegian Type 212 CD program, like what was offered in Oslo five years ago, so as to lower prices, but also industrial risks around the program.

In the same way, Stockholm offers Amsterdam a very attractive offer around its new A26 submarine, the developments of the latter having been financed by Sweden for its own navy, while the Swedish industrialist has allied with the very powerful Dutch shipyard Damen to optimize its chances.

Under these conditions, Naval Group's offer with the Black Sword, a Shortfin Barracuda family submarine derived from SSNs of the Suffren class but equipped with conventional anaerobic propulsion, may appear to be very disadvantaged, what is more since the cancellation of the Australian SEA 1000 contract which was to specifically design and produce 12 Shortfin Barracuda Attack-class submarines, even if from the capacity point of view, the submarine proposed by the French group offers performances significantly superior to those of its competitors, and better suited to the needs of the Dutch Navy.

Indeed, the Black Sword is much more imposing than the A26 or the Type 212 CD, with a length of nearly 90 meters and a diving displacement of more than 4000 tons, against 66 meters and 2000 tons for the Swedish A26 Blekinge, and 73 meters for a displacement of 2500 tons for the Type 212 CD, making a much more durable and efficient ship, especially for open sea missions, where the other two submersibles are optimized for narrow seas and coastal evolution , such as the Baltic and the North Sea.

Thus, during the Australian competition, the Shortfin barracuda had largely outclassed the Type 212 and the Soryu, precisely because of its offshore qualities and in particular its ability to move at high speed while remaining silent, inherited from its affiliation with the submarines. -Suffren-class nuclear-powered attack sailors.

In addition, like the Suffren, the Black Swords can deploy a number of very advanced munitions, such as the F-21 heavy torpedoes, the SM-39 medium-changing anti-ship missile, and the MdCN cruise missile. . Still, to prevail against the German and Swedish offers, it will be essential to play with the same budgetary weapons.

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