Canada is selecting a bid led by Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) to build a new fleet of submarines, reported by Canadian media and echoed by Bloomberg. The decision is described as one of the largest military procurement efforts in Canada’s history, with the overall value cited as “tens of billions of dollars,” and a separate report putting the contract potential at up to $100 billion over three decades. The German government has expressed optimism that Canada will proceed with the TKMS-led proposal.
According to The Globe and Mail, the selection names a preferred bidder rather than finalize a signed contract. Negotiations are expected to continue for months or longer. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to formally announce the decision in Halifax before heading to a NATO summit in Ankara.
The program, known as the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project, is intended to replace Canada’s aging Victoria-class submarines. The Globe and Mail report says the process is expected to be a setback for South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean, which had offered a variant of its KSS-III Batch-II submarine featuring fuel-cell propulsion and lithium-ion batteries.
