Norway upgrades Ula-class submarines once more before 212CD rollout

Norway has acted to extend the life of its current fleet of Ula-class submarines by signing an upgrade agreement with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.

The Ula-class has been Norway’s leading submarine since it was built in the 1980s and 1990s, and is currently the only class of submarine Norway runs. While the boats were designed for longevity, the Ula-class is coming to the end of what would normally be considered its safe operating lifetime. Naturally, a replacement is underway – the 212CD programme in conjunction with Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems recently hit its design phase deadline for its critical design review.

But while the replacement class is designed, built, armed, equipped, tested and finally put to sea, Kongsberg has agreed to upgrade and update the six submarines of the Ula-class

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The scale of the upgrades takes in both the hardware and software that makes up the combat system, and has been priced at NOK436 million (US$41.6 million).

This will not be Kongsberg’s first round of upgrades to the Ula-class submarines. The company is the original supplier of the combat system and has upgraded it already since it began service in the submarines. The newest upgrades though are intended to tide the Ula-class over until the 212CD submarines are introduced, which is expected to happen in the 2030s.

Kongsberg is also supplying the combat system for the new 212CD submarines, which should maintain an ethos of operation between the two systems. 

The 212CD design process is proceeding according to schedule, with the recent critical design review marker being hit.

“We have now created all the conditions necessary for the construction of the 212CD submarines,” said Christian Rogge, head of operating unit submarines at ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. The 212CD submarines are worth an estimated $1.1 billion each, and deliveries of the Ula replacements are expected between 2032 and 2034. That means the newly agreed combat systems upgrades to the Ula boats might well have to last a decade or longer.

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