Poland signs contract to acquire Swedish submarines

Saab receives order for three submarines for Poland. (Saab)

Poland on Monday signed a US$4.8-billion contract with Sweden to purchase three Saab submarines intended to strengthen its defence capabilities in the face of a growing Russian threat.

“Poland is acquiring three A-26 type, fifth-generation submarines, the most modern ones,” Polish defence minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said following the signing ceremony in the Polish Baltic port city of Gdynia.

He added that the submarines Poland is set to obtain are “designed to operate in the Baltic Sea, capable of putting their capabilities at the service of both the navy and special forces.”

The contract -- signed by Prime Ministers Donald Tusk and Ulf Kristersson -- includes an armaments package as well as a training and support programme, worth roughly 47 billion Swedish kronor ($4.8 billion), the Saab group specified in a press release.

The first submarine delivery is planned for 2031, and the last one is set to arrive in 2038.

In the meantime, Sweden will lend Poland a modernised A-17 type vessel, operational as of next year, in order to train its sailors.

Poland’s submarine procurement programme, named Orka (Orca), is among the most urgent projects of the Polish navy, which currently has only a single obsolete submarine, built in 1985 in the USSR.

The agreement also provides for industrial exchanges, as well as a logistics package, operational support, preparation of the necessary infrastructure, and the acquisition by Sweden of a rescue vessel built in Polish shipyards.

Described as a “historic milestone” for both countries by Kristersson, the contract is set to create 7,000 jobs in Poland and “a significant number” in Sweden, according to Stockholm.

The choice of the Saab as submarine supplier had been announced in November by Warsaw, ruling out other bids from Germany, Spain, Italy, South Korea, and the French company Naval Group.