Dutch House of Representatives gives political support to Naval Group's Netherlands submarine replacement bid

Naval Group's bid to replace the RNLN's Walrus-class submarines is based on the shipyard's Black Sword Barracuda design. (Naval Group)

The Dutch House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) has lent its support to Naval Group's bid for the Netherlands' submarine replacement programme. During a debate on the planned acquisition in the House of Representatives on 11 June, a motion proposed by the Reformed Political Party (Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij: SGP) for the final decision on the acquisition to be left to the next Dutch government, was defeated.

In March the French shipyard was provisionally awarded a contract for four boats to replace the Royal Netherlands Navy's (RNLN's) ageing Walrus-class submarines.

In a post on the social media site X (formerly Twitter), the Netherlands' State Secretary for Defence Christophe van der Maat said he was “very satisfied with the broad support from the House of Representatives for the cabinet's submarine award decision. After many years, the parliamentary process has now been completed”. A contract for the four submarines is now expected later in 2024.

However, while political support has been obtained, the preliminary decision remains subject to a legal case being brought by German shipyard thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (tkMS).

The shipyard brought the case before the Dutch courts in The Hague in March, the company confirmed to Reuters, saying, “This measure is a professional business procedure in such publicly tendered major projects and part of the competition – especially in light of the questions that remain unanswered regarding specific evaluation criteria.”