Canada will receive up to 12 new submarines from TKMS at an accelerated pace, with opportunities for enhanced cooperation presented through three NATO allies – Canada, Germany, and Norway – set to operate the same submarine.
Canada has selected Germany’s TKMS as the preferred supplier of its future submarines under the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP) to replace the in-service Victoria-class.
The German ship and submarine builder will now meet the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN’s) requirement, under the CPSP, to deliver up to 12 new diesel-electric submarines (SSKs) using the company’s Type 212 Common Design (T212CD) boat. The T212CD is already in build for both the German Navy and the Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN), under a collaborative programme.
Canada’s decision means that three North Atlantic-focused NATO submarine services will be operating a common platform. This presents collaborative opportunities. Many NATO navies today seek commonality in equipment to support co-operation on operations; training and exercising; basing, logistics, maintenance, and other support; and capability development and enhancement.
Announcing Canada’s decision on 6 July 2026 in a speech at Canadian Forces Base Halifax on the country’s east coast, before flying out to the NATO summit in Türkiye, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said “Together with our German and Norwegian allies, we will build at speed and scale to expand our strategic capabilities and create greater strategic autonomy.”
“Canada’s next submarine fleet will secure our coastlines and waters, and their construction will have enormous, lasting benefits for Canadian industries and workers,” the Prime Minister added.
Canada intends to leverage its indigenous defence industrial capabilities in the new programme.
A statement released by the Prime Minister’s office underscored the CPSP programme’s key role in underpinning Canadian security and sovereignty, and in transforming the country’s defence capability.
In this context, the NATO component is particularly prominent. “In this increasingly dangerous and divided world, Canada must be prepared to defend ourselves and our allies,” the statement said.
The CPSP programme mandates submarines that combine sophisticated stealth, sensing, lethality, and other technologies to enable the RCN to detect, track, deter, and if necessary defeat adversaries in all three oceans on Canada’s borders (the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific). Making specific reference to the Arctic Ocean, the statement noted that adversaries are seeking to exploit the greater access to the High North occurring as a consequence of climate change. It added that a submarine capability enables the RCN to defend threats both at distance and close-in to Canada’s shores, observing that Canada’s coastline is the world’s longest.
In this geostrategic context, submarines provide underwater surveillance and other capabilities critical to Canada’s national security. Pointing to the T212CD’s capacity for Arctic patrol, plus its surveillance and special forces deployment capability, the statement underlined the design’s stealth, particularly its low acoustic and magnetic signatures.
Regarding the Prime Minister’s reference to strategic autonomy, the CPSP boats are intended to provide capacity to patrol at distance for sustained periods in the Arctic, bringing robust capability in this regard.
Referring to the T212CD as “fully NATO-interoperable”, the statement said the procurement will bolster Canadian security through operating a common platform with Germany and Norway, two of Canada’s closest allies (and both being NATO members). It added that the CPSP programme supports collective security with allies through NATO and through the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
Emphasising again the NATO angle, both Canada and Norway have expressed interest in participating in the UK Royal Navy’s ‘Atlantic Bastion’ underwater warfare programme, which aims to connect up crewed and uncrewed platforms to deliver sustained surveillance and deterrence presence across the North Atlantic and into the High North.
Following TKMS’s selection as preferred supplier, the two parties will now negotiate on finalising contracts and other arrangements for delivering the submarines to the RCN within CPSP’s requirements, the statement said. It added that the contracting process will be concluded no later than the end of 2027, with the first four boats to be delivered in 2034 – a timeframe that is ahead of schedule, according to the statement.
This accelerated delivery timeframe and capacity both reflects and enhances the original CPSP requirement for the first new boat to arrive in 2035 or earlier.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates that Canada can move at the speed of relevance,” Stephen Fuhr, Secretary of State for Defence Procurement, said in the statement. The CPSP programme’s request for information was issued in September 2024, beginning a bid process that concluded at the end of April 2026, the statement noted.
The statement reiterated that CPSP will deliver up to 12 boats, replacing the four in-service Victoria-class SSKs that will remain in service into the mid-to-late 2030s – although the statement noted that only one Victoria boat is currently operational.
South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean – the other bidder in the final phase, with its KSS-III Batch 2 design – will be the reserve supplier and could still become the preferred supplier if negotiations with TKMS are unsuccessful, according to the statement.
Other bidders in earlier phases of the CPSP process were France’s Naval Group (with its Blackfin Barracuda), Spain’s Navantia (S-80 Plus), and Sweden’s Saab Kockums (A26 oceanic/extended range).
