On 26 November, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced during a press conference that Sweden will become Poland’s partner in the Orka program for the construction of three new submarines. This means that the future Polish submarines of this class will be based on the A26 (Blekinge-class) submarines built at the Saab Kockums shipyard in Karlskrona (Orka Program: Poland Has Chosen Swedish Submarines).
Images: Saab Defence and Security
This brings to an end the procurement process for a new class of submarine for Poland, to which, apart from Sweden, France, Spain, South Korea, Germany, and Italy also submitted their proposals. The Minister of National Defence stated that the interministerial team established in September within the Ministry to evaluate the submitted offers identified the Swedish submarine as the first-choice platform: “Sweden presented the best offer according to the team, and this was confirmed by the Council of Ministers in an objective analysis of all criteria, including delivery time, price, value, and operational capabilities, especially in the Baltic Sea basin.”
The Deputy Prime Minister also indicated that the Swedish offer directed toward Poland’s defense industry carried significant weight, quoting: “We wanted to gain additional competencies for the Polish shipbuilding industry, and such declarations were made by Sweden. The most far-reaching concern investments in the Polish defence industry, servicing, and repairs. Everything is to be carried out independently thanks to the competencies acquired by the Polish defence and shipbuilding industries. In addition, Sweden has committed in its offer to purchase Polish weaponry.”
It is likely that Sweden’s declaration to purchase a rescue vessel from a Polish shipyard also had a considerable impact on the choice of partner. The Swedish Navy currently operates only one such vessel – HMS Belos, which has been in service for nearly three and a half decades, having entered service in 1992. The introduction of its successor is planned for the first half of the 2030s, which aligns well with Poland’s plans to build a vessel of this class under the Ratownik program. The Polish vessel – whose construction likewise began on 26 November this year in Gdynia – is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2029. This would allow production to smoothly transition to the next vessel of this class for Sweden.
When will the new Polish submarines arrive?
According to Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz, preparations for the intergovernmental agreement between the governments of Poland and Sweden will continue over the coming weeks, and he would like it to be signed by the end of the year. The executive contract with the manufacturer is to be prepared by the Armament Agency for the second quarter of next year, and once it is signed, construction of the submarine for Poland could begin.
At the same time as construction begins, training of the Polish crew is also set to start. For 2026, land-based training is planned, and from 2027 training is expected to begin on one of the Swedish submarines – initially under the Swedish flag, and later under the Polish one, as stated. This would mean that the vessel designated for this purpose, until the delivery of the first ordered submarine, would be transferred (leased?) to the Polish Navy, serving as a gap-filler solution and allowing the decommissioning of Poland’s only submarine, the 40-year-old ORP Orzeł.
According to Swedish declarations, the submarine for Poland would be ready as early as 2030 (likely at the end of that year), which makes the declared construction schedule extremely tight. Although both submarines ordered for the Swedish Navy under the Blekinge class are currently at an advanced stage of construction – which would allow the Karlskrona shipyard to begin work on the Polish unit immediately after the signing of the contract – if the agreement is signed, as stated today, in the second quarter of 2026, there would be only about 4.5 years left until the end of 2030. This is a very short timeframe for building such complex vessels. Even more so given that the delivery deadlines for the Swedish A26 submarines have already been postponed several times, with the latest addendum from October this year moving the delivery dates from 2027 to 2031 for Blekinge and from 2028 to 2033 for Skåne.
It must, of course, be taken into account that part of the delays in building the submarines for Sweden is the result of technical changes introduced into the design in response to the contracting authority’s evolving requirements. It is therefore possible that all issues related to this will be resolved and will not affect the pace of construction of subsequent submarines of this type. Nevertheless, the question of whether such a short deadline is realistic remains. It is possible that, if a contract is signed with the dates announced today, the Swedes, seeking to meet them, might decide to hand over to Poland the Blekinge currently under construction. Naturally, this is only speculation, and until the relevant documents are signed, we will not receive an answer to such a question.
What will the Orka from Sweden be like?
The A26 is a single-hull submarine, 66 meters long with a displacement of 1,925 tonnes. Its crew can range from 17 to 26 people, but it has accommodation for up to 35 due to its ability to transport special forces personnel. For this purpose, the A26 is equipped with a large, centrally mounted bow lock-out chamber – the MMP (Multi-Mission Portal) – 7 meters long and 1.5 meters in diameter. Its role is to deploy large unmanned underwater vehicles or allow divers (e.g., special forces operators) to exit the submarine; it can hold up to 8 divers.
>>>Swedish A26 Submarine and Poland’s Orka Program<<<
Because of this design solution, compared to other submarines, the number of 533 mm torpedo tubes is limited to four (whereas six tubes are standard for most submarines of this size). Currently, Swedish submarines use exclusively domestic weaponry: the heavy, wire-guided Tp 62 torpedoes (533 mm), powered by a peroxide–kerosene combustion engine, and the electrically powered 400 mm torpedoes Tp 45 or the newest Tp 47 (Saab SLWT), which are also being offered to Poland.
During the conference, the Deputy Prime Minister stressed that the Swedish design received the highest evaluation in terms of operational capability, particularly in the Baltic Sea basin, and that it was the only one to meet all the requirements of the Navy. These statements are justified by the fact that representatives of Saab Kockums always emphasize that the submarines they design and build are the only ones in the world specifically adapted to operate in the unique conditions of the Baltic Sea. Indeed, no other submarine-producing nation focuses its underwater operations on this type of environment, where the average depth of the sea barely exceeds 50 meters, and typical depths range between 25 and 250 meters.
The Swedes attach great importance to this specificity, and for this reason their designs are adapted to safely rest on the seabed. Due to the significant mine threat in such shallow waters, especially given that some 50,000 to 60,000 mines and other unexploded ordnance still lie on the bottom of the Baltic, they also place strong emphasis on maximizing resistance to underwater explosions. For this reason, every successive class of submarine is subjected to shock trials, conducted by detonating a real charge near a submerged vessel to simulate the explosion of a naval mine.
Since the limited depths of the Baltic severely restrict the maneuvering space of submerged submarines, remaining undetected becomes critically important. The Swedes therefore seek to minimize all physical signatures of their submarines, paying exceptional attention to soundproofing and isolating all onboard systems from the hull, as well as coating the hull with anechoic tiles. In the case of the A26, the overall set of solutions aimed at reducing the submarine’s detectability is referred to by the acronym GHOST (Genuine Holistic Stealth).
Remaining undetected is inseparably linked to staying underwater as long as possible, with minimal surfacing or even rising to periscope depth. This requires the use of an air-independent propulsion system, better known under the English acronym AIP. In the case of the A26, a solution based on Stirling thermal engines has been applied, a technology that Sweden has been using on its submarines since the 1980s.
Compared with newer energy sources that use fuel cells, this solution is less efficient. The efficiency of such propulsion does not exceed 40%, while fuel cells can reach 60–80%. However, it is technically simpler and easier to operate. The Swedish side emphasizes that the simplicity of the system allows AIP maintenance to be carried out by the crew under operational conditions, and even enables certain repairs.
The Swedish AIP system has been under development for 40 years, and the current version represents its fourth generation, an improved Mk III variant, which is also installed on the modernized Gotland-class (A19) submarines
The second advantage is that the fuel is diesel oil and the oxidizer is liquid oxygen, both of which can be replenished in any port. No specialized infrastructure is required for this, unlike fuel-cell solutions that use hydrogen as fuel. The time needed to restore combat readiness is also shorter, around 6 hours, whereas in the case of hydrogen it exceeds 24 hours.
The A26’s propulsion system is classified by the manufacturer as fourth-generation and described as an improved Mk III variant. On board are three Stirling-engine modules, each generating around 70 kW of power. The approximately 200 kW produced allows the submarine to maintain a constant submerged speed of about 5–6 knots for more than 18 days. At higher speeds, energy consumption exceeds what the AIP can generate, and the difference must then be drawn from the batteries.
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