Canada picks TKMS: 12 Type 212CD submarines and the largest defence deal in the country's history

Ottawa has settled one of the most closely watched defence competitions in recent memory. Canada will build a new submarine fleet based on the German Type 212CD design, naming ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) as its preferred supplier. The decision, announced on 6 July 2026 by Prime Minister Mark Carney at Canadian Forces Base Halifax, marks the largest defence procurement in the country's history and the start of a rebuild of the Royal Canadian Navy's (RCN) underwater capability after more than sixty years without a domestically delivered boat of this class.

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11 july 2026   |   08:49   |   Source: Gazeta Morska   |   Prepared by: Kamil Kusier   |   Print

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What follows is a full walk-through of the project: the contest behind it, the technical make-up of the boat, its industrial footprint, the strategic stakes, and what it all means for the European - and Polish - submarine market.

Halifax, 6 July: a preferred supplier, not yet a signed deal

Canada has chosen TKMS as the preferred supplier for the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP), a programme to acquire up to twelve conventionally powered, diesel-electric submarines capable of operating under Arctic conditions. The new boats will replace the ageing four-strong Victoria class (the former British Upholder class), of which - as the prime minister himself stressed - only one remains fully seaworthy today.

The legal caveat matters: this is the selection of a "preferred bidder", not a signed contract. Ottawa now enters negotiations with TKMS to finalise the technical, operational and economic terms of the deal. Under the official timeline, contracting is to be concluded no later than the end of 2027, with the talks themselves estimated to take between six and eighteen months.

At the same time, Ottawa named a reserve supplier. That role went to South Korea's Hanwha Ocean (bidding in a "one-team" consortium with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries), which offered the KSS-III boat. Should talks with TKMS collapse, Canada retains the right to open negotiations with the Korean consortium instead. Secretary of State for Defence Procurement Stephen Fuhr highlighted this safeguard, arguing that naming both a preferred and a reserve supplier strengthens the resilience of the entire programme.

A price with no tag: from CAD 24 to 100 billion

Prime Minister Carney gave no official figure, saying only that this would be the largest defence procurement in Canadian history. The numbers circulating in the media differ depending on what they include.

The acquisition of the boats alone was put by some reports at around CAD 24 billion. The whole-of-life value of the programme - that is, with decades of maintenance, new infrastructure, weapons and support - is estimated by some analyses at as much as CAD 100 billion (roughly USD 70 billion). Programme-level figures in the CAD 40-60 billion range have also appeared. The spread underlines how hard a firm valuation is before contract negotiations are closed.

One seaworthy boat out of four: why Ottawa had no choice

Three interlocking factors sit behind the decision: the state of the fleet, geography and geopolitics.

First, the Victoria class is nearing the end of its service life. The boats are due to retire in the second half of the 2030s, and their current operational availability is critically low. Without a successor, Canada would risk a complete gap in its underwater capability.

Second, geography. Canada has the longest coastline in the world and borders three oceans - the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Arctic. The ability to patrol these waters covertly and for long periods is a foundation of maritime sovereignty and undersea situational awareness.

Third, the Arctic and strategic context. Ottawa points explicitly to an Arctic warming almost three times faster than the global average, opening new routes and turning the region into an area of growing interest for rivals. Combined with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the largest rearmament among NATO states since the Cold War, this piles pressure on rebuilding defence capabilities. Canada has reached the 2% of GDP defence-spending mark for the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, while the alliance has adopted a target of 5% of GDP on defence and security by 2035.

Germany versus Korea: when the alliance flag decides everything

The TKMS-Hanwha contest was exceptionally close, and the prime minister described the outcome as a difficult, tight decision between two highly rated suppliers. Both platforms - the German 212CD and the Korean KSS-III - met the RCN's operational requirements, and both are fitted with air-independent propulsion (AIP).

The rivalry was unusually public. Korea ran an aggressive economic and public-relations campaign: in spring, the Republic of Korea Navy sent one of its KSS-III boats to Victoria, British Columbia, to demonstrate the vessel's reach and to conduct joint operations with the RCN. Hanwha offered a wide-ranging investment package, including pledges exceeding USD 70 billion in trade and investment and tens of thousands of jobs a year, along with commitments to the Canadian steel industry.

Germany, acting jointly with Norway, countered with an offer built on a strong alliance and industrial component - and, crucially, on the card of accelerated deliveries. Berlin and Oslo proposed giving up some of their own production slots so that Ottawa could receive its first four boats by 2034, rather than the 2036 originally on offer. That neutralised one of Korea's main advantages, its faster declared delivery pace.

In the end, the alliance dimension prevailed. The Type 212CD is a platform operated jointly with Germany and Norway, fully NATO-interoperable, and TKMS supplies submarines to more than a third of the alliance's members. Hanwha itself acknowledged in a statement that, despite Seoul's backing and the competitiveness of its boat, it could not overcome the barrier of NATO alliance ties. The market reacted at once - the Korean company's shares fell by more than 23% after the decision. For Seoul, a win would also have been its first major submarine export to a Western navy.

It is worth noting that Carney made a point of reaching out to Korea, pledging to continue Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy and underlining the value of the Korean bid in a conversation with President Lee Jae Myung.

The boat that can vanish: anatomy of the Type 212CD

The Type 212CD (for "Common Design") is an evolution of the proven German Type 212A, originally developed as a joint project for the German and Norwegian navies. It is not, however, a simple derivative - it is a substantially enlarged and redesigned boat.

Dimensions and parameters. The boat is about 73 m long, roughly 10 m in the beam and about 7 m in draught. Displacement, depending on the source and variant, is given in the range of roughly 2,500-3,000 tonnes, an increase of some 65% over the 212A. Submerged speed exceeds 20 knots, and endurance reaches around 41 days. The crew numbers about 30.

Propulsion and energy. At the heart of the boat is a diesel-electric drive supplemented by an AIP system based on next-generation hydrogen proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) fuel cells. It allows the boat to remain submerged for more than two to three weeks without snorkelling, with minimal heat and noise emission. Surface running and high-speed transit are handled by two MTU 4000-series diesels, while quiet running at tactical speeds relies on a permanent-magnet motor. New compared with the 212A are lithium (lithium-iron-phosphate) batteries, significantly extending the time the boat can operate on stored power.

Stealth. The boat's signature is radically reduced by its distinctive "diamond-shaped", faceted hull, which deflects active sonar pulses away from an adversary's receivers - a concept borrowed from the stealth technology familiar from aviation. Added to this are non-magnetic steel, an anechoic coating that dampens echoes, raft-mounted machinery and a low-noise propeller. Boats of the 212 family are famous for their ability to "disappear" - in exercises they have slipped past even the US and Royal navies.

Armament and systems. The boat carries 533 mm torpedo tubes and a new generation of heavyweight torpedoes, with an arsenal set to include Naval Strike Missile anti-ship weapons and tube-launched effectors. Combat management is handled by the ORCCA system, developed by the kta naval systems consortium (Kongsberg together with TKMS-owned Atlas Elektronik) and billed as one of the most advanced combat systems for non-nuclear boats. The vessels are to be capable of operating under ice, conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and special-forces insertion. Type 212CD boats are built at TKMS's German yards in Kiel and Wismar.

The boat's brain beats in Norway: the ORCCA combat system and Kongsberg

The strength of a modern submarine rests not only on its hull and propulsion but, above all, on its combat system - the "brain" that fuses data from sensors and weapons. On the Type 212CD, that role falls to the ORCCA system, and its key supplier is Norway's Kongsberg.

Kongsberg delivers major elements of ORCCA through kta naval systems, a joint venture of Kongsberg, TKMS and Atlas Elektronik. The system is described as a multi-domain solution, able to combine and analyse data from sensors operating in the air and on the surface as well, which is meant to translate into better interoperability with allied forces. The scale of the effort is well illustrated by an earlier contract: back in December 2025, Kongsberg signed a deal to supply ORCCA elements for four German and two Norwegian boats, worth around NOK 3.5 billion.

For Canada, the industrial dimension of this cooperation is pivotal. Kongsberg is already present in the Canadian market, and with Ottawa joining the programme it is promising further investment and deeper cooperation with local industry. According to trade analyses, the company's Canadian arm, Kongsberg Geospatial of Ottawa, has already contributed more than 50,000 hours of software development to ORCCA, and a combat-management-system centre of excellence is ultimately to be established in Ottawa, serving the entire Canadian fleet - and, in time, future TKMS boats worldwide.

Canada's accession is read on the Norwegian side as more than simply adding another user. In their view, when further allies invest in the same platform the result is a shared operational capability, better use of resources, stronger centres of expertise and greater sustainment durability across the boats' entire service life. Canada thus becomes an equal partner in an already established Norwegian-German cooperation - not merely another TKMS customer.

Not just boats, but a whole industry: what Canada gains ashore

For Canada, the contract is not only a hardware purchase but an attempt to build an entire domestic industry to maintain and support submarines, plugged into the global TKMS supply chain. Prime Minister Carney openly framed the decision as a blend of NATO alliance commitment and industrial policy.

The programme is run under the "Build-Partner-Buy" model and Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy, and is overseen by the Defence Investment Agency established in October 2025. The whole effort is subject to the Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB) policy, meant to secure lasting economic benefits for Canadian firms and workers.

Key domestic partners. The pillar of servicing the new fleet is to be the Seaspan yard, which since 2005 has been the only Canadian industrial player maintaining submarines (currently the Victoria class) at Victoria Shipyards in Esquimalt on the West Coast. Seaspan signed a teaming agreement with TKMS as early as January 2026. The yard employs more than a thousand people, including over 300 submarine-qualified specialists, and manages a supply chain of more than 400 companies. Its representatives capture the scale of the change vividly: if the current boats are "classic cars", the new vessels will be like "brand-new sports cars".

On the East Coast, the Department of National Defence is preparing Halifax for a major, defence-led transformation of its harbour. The department has acquired more than 400 acres of land on the Dartmouth side, on the site of the former Valero refinery, where a new submarine yard is expected to be built. Analysts also anticipate closer cooperation between Seaspan and the Halifax yard Irving Shipbuilding, pairing submarine expertise with a combat-shipbuilding workforce and an Atlantic supply base.

The supplier network. TKMS has named more than a dozen Canadian partners, large and small. Among them are Valbruna ASW of Welland, Ontario (non-magnetic submarine steel), CAE Inc. (simulators and training), Cohere (AI-based systems) and GH Power (clean-energy solutions). The programme also includes partnerships with Indigenous entities, among them Songhees Development Corporation in British Columbia, Des Nedhe Group Defence in Saskatchewan, the Inuit Development Corporation Association in Ottawa and Glooscap Ventures in Nova Scotia.

On the German side, it is worth noting that TKMS has invested around EUR 250 million in a new shipbuilding hall in Kiel, and the company's chief executive maintains that earlier investment in the Kiel and Wismar yards provides sufficient production capacity to handle orders for Germany, Norway, Canada and future export customers.

A year to contract, a decade to a fleet: the programme timeline

Canada ran the competition at a pace regarded as record-breaking for this kind of procedure. The Request for Information (RFI) ran from September 2024 to February 2025. Two qualified suppliers were identified on 26 August 2025. Proposal instructions were issued in November 2025, bids were submitted in March 2026, and the clarification-and-amendment process concluded on 29 April 2026. The preferred supplier was announced on 6 July 2026.

The next stages are contract negotiations with TKMS (six to eighteen months) and the close of contracting by the end of 2027. The first boats are to reach Canada in the early 2030s (reports cite 2033-2034), with the first four - thanks to Germany and Norway giving up production slots - to be delivered by 2034, before the planned retirement of the Victoria class. In parallel, tenders for building sustainment facilities in Halifax and Esquimalt can be expected, along with the start of training for the first Canadian crews overseas before the end of this decade.

A 24-boat club and Canada's quiet pivot to Europe

Choosing TKMS means Canada joins Germany and Norway to form a Type 212CD user community that will ultimately number up to 24 boats. That is a significant economy of scale: a shared design translates into common logistics, joint training, standardised spare parts and real NATO interoperability.

The decision also carries a deeper geostrategic dimension. Commentators read it as pulling Canada closer to Europe at a moment when the United States is drifting away from NATO. For Ottawa, an announcement on the eve of the alliance summit was at once a clear signal of meeting its defence-spending commitments and a demonstration of reform to a chronically criticised, overly slow military procurement system. For some analysts, the sheer speed of the decision is as important a message as the choice of platform itself.

The Polish thread: same boat, a different call

For readers in Poland and Central Europe, the Canadian competition carries an added, close-to-home dimension. The Type 212CD was, after all, one of the contenders in Poland's Orka programme, which envisages acquiring three attack submarines. The field of rivals included Sweden's A26 Blekinge, Korea's KSS-III, Spain's S-80, the French Scorpene, Italy's U212 NFS and the German 212CD. In the end, in November 2025, the Polish navy selected the Swedish A26 Blekinge.

The competition for conventional-submarine markets therefore remains open and multipolar. Greece has also signalled interest in the Type 212CD, while TKMS has for years supplied boats to customers across the Asia-Pacific region, including Singapore, Indonesia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. The Canadian result cements the German yard's position as one of the leading exporters, but it also shows that Korea's defence industry - despite this loss - has grown into a serious, global player able to compete with Europe's leaders.

Opening balance: what to watch next

The choice of TKMS and the Type 212CD closes a years-long gap in the plans to modernise Canada's underwater fleet and opens a project of unprecedented scale in the country's defence history. For Canada it means the ability to operate covertly across three oceans, a boost for domestic industry and a firmer anchoring in the European-NATO defence ecosystem. For the submarine market, it confirms that big contracts are increasingly decided not by platform specifications alone but by the interplay of industrial policy, delivery speed and alliance ties.

The open question is the close of contract negotiations - until an agreement is signed, the reserve supplier formally remains in play. Over the coming months, then, it is worth watching not only the progress of Ottawa's talks with TKMS but also how the Canadian supply chain and the sustainment facilities on both coasts actually take shape.

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TKMS okręty podwodne 212CD dla Kanady Marynarka Wojenna Kanady przemysł obronny Kongsberg

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