The Netherlands Ministry of Defence has provisionally selected Naval Group – offering its Black Sword Barracuda design – to deliver a replacement submarine capability to succeed the Royal Netherlands Navy’s current Walrus-class boats.
Announcing the decision on 15 March 2024, State Secretary for Defence Christophe van der Maat said that the French naval shipbuilding, support and services group had emerged as clear winner ahead of rival proposals from Sweden’s Saab (teamed with Damen Group) and German shipbuilding contractor thyssenkrupp Marine Systems.
The Netherlands plans to procure four new conventionally-powered submarines – to be named HNLMS Orka, HNLMS Zwaardvis, HNLMS Barracuda and HNLMS Tijgerhaai – to replace the ageing Walrus-class boats on a one-for-one basis. Designed during the latter stages of the Cold War, the Walrus-class submarines were commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy between 1990 and 1994. Three boats remain in service.
The provisional award milestone concludes the selection process and opens up a period of exclusive negotiations intended to lead to a full delivery contract. The delivery contract will be signed after the tender assessment has been debated and approved in the Netherlands’ House of Representatives. The contract will stipulate that Naval Group delivers the first two submarines within 10 years of contract signature, said van der Maat. The intention is to have both boats operational between 2034 and 2037.
The requirement developed for the Walrus-class replacements called for a submarine with extended range and endurance to be able to deliver a true expeditionary capability. Saab offered the C718 expeditionary derivative of Sweden’s A26 design; thyssenkrupp Marine Systems proposed the Type 212CD E expeditionary variant of the German/Norwegian Type 212CD submarine; and Naval Group pitched Black Shark Barracuda (a smaller conventionally-powered derivative of the French Navy’s Suffren-class nuclear-powered attack submarine).
Bids from the three contenders were submitted at the end of July 2023. Over the next seven and-a-half months, the evaluation team within COMMIT completed a comprehensive evaluation of each tender response against many hundreds of individual requirements/metrics.
Naval Group has not released detailed information on the characteristics of the Black Sword Barracuda variant offered to the Netherlands. However, an open source data sheet issued by the company suggests a design with a surface displacement of 3,300tonnes, a length overall of 82m and an 8.2m diameter pressure hull. Other features include a payload of up to 30 weapons, six torpedo tubes, and a standard crew of 35.
