Norway is working towards establishing an extensive submarine cooperation with other nations in order to reduce cost and secure a robust submarine capability for the future.
The current Norwegian Ula-class submarines will gradually reach their end-of-life in the 2020s. The Ministry of Defence is currently leading the work looking at procurement of new submarines. The project is in its definition phase. This phase will be completed in the first half of 2016, when the external quality review is completed.
The Ministry of Defence has not chosen a supplier for new submarines, and is at present in dialogue with several different shipyards. It is therefore important to inform all parties as equally as possible.
The Ministry of Defence and the project are in active discussions with several different nations with regards to potential submarine cooperation, with the aim of achieving the Norwegian ambition for cooperation.
Norway and Germany have already a longstanding and successful submarine cooperation. Germany is therefore a nation which it is natural for Norway to discuss a potential future submarine cooperation with.
In addition to operational and purely defence related matters, industry will play an important part in a future submarine cooperation.
The Ministry of Defence participated in an industrial seminar hosted by the Bundesverband der Deutschen Sicherheits- und Verteidigungsindustrie e.V (BDSV) in cooperation with the Norwegian Defence and Security Industry Association (FSi) in Berlin the 8th and 9th of February 2016.
State Secretary Øystein Bø and the National Armaments Director Morten Tiller participated in the seminar, which focused on the future submarine project and other defence projects where there is a potential for industrial and defence related cooperation between Norway and Germany.
