The contract in the “Orka” program, which assumes the acquisition of submarines for the Polish Navy, is sought by the largest producers of specified units. Shipbuilding companies from Germany, France, Spain, Scandinavia, Italy and South Korea present their offer during this year's defence manufacture fair in Kielce.
Restoring logistics capabilities to the navy, combat and reconnaissance is 1 of the priorities of the “Plan of method modernization of the Polish army for the years 2022–2035”. This paper assumes that ships that have already completed or will shortly be withdrawn from service will be replaced by fresh rocket units “Swordfish, Radio-electronic combat “Dolphin, hydrographic ‘Hydrograph’, rescue ‘Rescuer’, tankers ‘Supply’, and another mine destroyers with the code name Kormoran II.
The most urgent programme to implement is simply a program that concerns the acquisition of submarines (ork cryptonym). This is an absolute "must have" due to the fact that the Navy has only 1 submarine – built in the 1980s ORP "Earl" (in fresh years the army had to retreat 4 Kobben ships).
The Orca search continues. Last summer. The Armed Forces Agency has invited shipbuilding companies from around the worldto present their offer on conventional (i.e. those that are not nuclear-powered) submarines as part of the first marketplace consultation. Almost all major shipbuilding companies have volunteered to supply specified solutions: French Naval Group, Spanish Navanttia, Italian Fincantieri, German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, Swedish Saab Kockums and Korean Hyundai dense Industries. Unfortunately, the MON does not uncover what entities were invited to the next phase of the talks and erstwhile a tender for the acquisition of ships will be made, or the designated contractor in non-trading mode.
Race moves to Kielce
At this year's global Defence manufacture Salon, leading arms companies, which, according to experts, have a chance to get a contract for Orka, advance their "submarine" proposals. any companies only limited themselves to sending their delegations to MSPO, which meet with army representatives, and others set themselves on an extended information campaign.
French proposal
This was done by the Naval Group, which for a long time specialized in the construction of nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs), including ballistic missiles with atomic heads (SSBNs), for the purposes of the French army. For respective years, the French have besides sought abroad markets, offering structures tailored to the needs of the fleet of a possible abroad partner.
French company Naval Group proposes Poland's latest version of Scorpène marked as Evolved Full LiB.
The flagship of the company – Scorpène – in the variety supplied to Brazil as S-BR (type of Riachuelo) is 75 m long and 2000 t buoyancy. The CM-2000 model chosen by Chile and Malaysia is much smaller than it is – it is 68.4 m long and buoyancy 1738 t. Very akin dimensions are Indian Scorpène, marked as Kalvari, having a dimension of 67.5 m and displacement of 1775 t.
The Polish company Naval Group proposes the latest version of Scorpène marked as Evolved Full LiB. This unit is 72 m long, displacement 1,600 t on the surface and 2000 t underwater. The ship, with a crew of about 30, can operate for 80 days without being called into port, and the hybrid electrical drive allows it to stay underwater without rising for about 12 days.
As far as industrial cooperation is concerned, the Naval Group ensures that it is possible to launch the production of Scorpène ships, or much of them, in the Polish shipbuilding industry, which will affect the transfer of cognition and technology.
Spanish Rhythms
Similar assurances come from the Spanish Navantii. This company proposes its latest conventional submarine S-80 Plus. The first of 4 specified units contracted by the Spanish army went into service in 2023. The Spanish guarantee that they are able to supply Polish shipbuilding companies with the knowledge, experience and technology essential to build the Polish S-80 Plus variety. An additional asset is the fact that 2 another companies active in this task – British Babcock and American Lockheed Martin – are partners of the WP in another modernisation programs.
The Spanish Navantia offers the Polish Navy its latest conventional submarine S-80 Plus.
S-80 Plus is an oceanic submarine equipped with conventional hybrid drive – combustion-electric – supported by the AIP strategy (air-independent drive), which consists of lead-acid cells allowing a very long stay of the unit in immersion.
The ship is nearly 81 m long, its buoyancy is almost 3,000 t and the crew has 32 sailors. The S-80 Plus armament consists not only of 533 mm torpedoes, but besides Sub-Harpoon missiles, bottom mines and Tomahawk maneuvering missiles.
Other players
While the Spanish and the French are open to the production of their vessels in Poland, the remaining shipbuilding companies seeking contracts are no longer so keen to share cognition and technologies.
South Korean Hyundai dense Industries and Hanwha Ocean, which promote the KSS-III vessel, they reserve that the transfer of know-how to Poland may only concern the creation of a maintenance, repair and repair centre (MRO). As far as KSS-III production is concerned, their components could be produced at the Vistula River in the future. Unfortunately, there are no clear declarations that are specific.
South Korean Hyundai dense Industries and Hanwha Ocean advance the KSS-III ship.
KSS-III is Poland's largest conventional submarine. The unit in the latest variety (Batch II) is 89 m long and 3600 t buoyancy, and its crew consists of 35 sailors. As for the drive, like in another designs, this is simply a combination of an internal-electric motor and an AIP system. The tranche of the presently supplied Korean Army (Batch I) uses lead-acid cells, but the next 1 (Batch II) is to be lithium-ion. The Koreans assure that they will extend the time in which the KSS-III will be allowed to be in immersion (now about 3 weeks).
What distinguishes the KSS-III against the competition is the vertical launchers of maneuvering missiles installed in it, so the ship can be armed with a wide scope of specified missiles, including atomic warheads.
Close Neighbors
The second 2 companies, who are seeking “Orka” during this year's MSPO, are Swedish Saab and German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. Our Scandinavian neighbors offer the latest ship – A-26. The unit has a dimension of 66 m, a width of 6.7 m and a displacement of about 2000 t, and its crew is only 17 sailors (the Swedish Navy wanted to reduce the crew's capacity to a maximum).
Swedish Saab offers Poland's newest ship – A-26.
The A-26 unit is equipped with a hybrid diesel drive, supported by the AIP system, which allows it to stay in immersion for 18 days. The autonomousness of this ship (i.e. the ability to operate without calling to port or replenishing fuel in the sea) is 45 days.
On the another hand, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, which is 1 of the world's largest submarine manufacturers (so far it has built more than 170 for 27 countries), offers the Polish Navy 3 product options. The first is the latest, ordered a fewer years ago by German and Norwegian armies, kind 212CD units. They are 73 m long and buoyancy on an area of 2500 t, underwater 2800 t, and their crew consists of 30 sailors. The ships have a conventional drive equipped with AIP HDW/Siemens PEM FC with polymer membrane cells and lithium-ion batteries.
The second proposal is made for 2 decades now by kind 212A ships. Germany decided to include them in the offer for Poland due to the fact that they are much smaller than 212CD. The latest version of 212A is about 57 m long, about 1500 t buoyancy on the surface and 1800 t in immersion.
At the same time, the German company declares that at the request of the Polish army it is able to prepare a task of a "cut" submarine on the basis of its rich portfolio for detailed Polish requirements in terms of size, propulsion and types of weapons.
