Norway, Germany To Cooperate On Submarines, Other Defense Equipment

Germany and Norway have signed future cooperation agreement on naval defence equipment, including the procurement of new submarines.

The two defence ministers, Ine Eriksen Søreide of Norway and Ursula von der Leyen of Germany, met at Eckernföerde naval base, Norway Ministry of Defense announced Tuesday.

The meeting is as a formal beginning of bilateral naval defense cooperation, the Norwegian defense minister said.

The common project for new submarines will be a major part of the partnership between the two countries, Soreide added.

The partnership includes a procurement of identical submarines and cooperation on training, exercises, spare parts, maintenance and lifetime-management of the new submarines, as well as industrial cooperation between German and Norwegian defense industries.

Germany's Atlas Elektronik and ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and Norway's Kongsberg Defence Systems have established a joint venture which will supply combat management systems to German submarines as well as to Norwegian ones, Soreide said.

On February 3, Norway announced a strategic partnership with Germany, which implies in particular purchasing new submarines from the German company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.

Norway expects the shipment of four submarines to begin in 2019. The partnership also includes personnel training and technical maintenance of the submarines.