Norwegian defence company pitches Ottawa as Arctic partner in sub procurement

OTTAWA — As the international competition for Canada’s lucrative submarine contract heats up, a Norwegian defence company is trying to sell Ottawa on its “alignment” with an Arctic near-neighbour.

Kongsberg is supporting Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, or TKMS, in its bid to win what would be a multi-billion dollar contract to build Canada a new fleet of submarines capable of patrolling under the Arctic sea ice.

“We like to lose to Canada in ice hockey. It’s one of the countries we like to lose to,” joked Kjetil Myhra, executive vice president of defence systems at Kongsberg. “The cultural fit, being Arctic-centric nations, being NATO members — there’s so much alignment.”

He told The Canadian Press his firm has already poured a lot of effort into developing things like seabed surveillance technology that can operate in the Arctic environments, and is in talks with Canadian companies about partnering in areas where Norway and Canada share strategic interests.

This is a key part of how both TKMS and Kongsberg — and their respective governments — are pursuing the sub contract: by presenting themselves as part of a group of nations and private companies building or operating the same subs and working in the same environments.

In other words, they’re inviting Canada to join a sub club that could keep Russia’s maritime operations in check in northern waters.

Kongsberg is supplying the TKMS 212CD subs with its combat system, dubbed ORCCA, which will operate in the Norwegian and German subs — and in Canada’s too, if TKMS wins the contract.

Canada is in a race to replace its four aging Victoria class submarines by their planned retirement date in 2035. Only one of those boats is currently operable.

Ottawa is looking to buy a new fleet of up to 12 submarines largely off the shelf from a foreign supplier, having pared down the field this year to just two firms: South Korea’s Hanwha Oceans and Germany’s TKMS.

Kongsberg company brass have been in and out of meetings in Ottawa and Halifax with Canadian defence officials over the past few days, and met with ministers on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum.

Part of Kongsberg’s sales pitch is its track record. It has operated in Canada for decades and has exported defence tech into international markets.

The firm is currently outfitting the Royal Canadian Navy’s River-class destroyers with key operating components and naval strike missiles. Company officials said they are also negotiating procurement of its joint strike missile for the F-35s Canada is buying.

Kongsberg is also looking at refurbishing a factory in Newfoundland to build training simulators for international sale because a manufacturing line in Norway is being outpaced by demand.

“The message that we’re also carrying here to Canada is, make sure that you build long-term relationships that build sustainable jobs for Canada and not just something that comes in for a particular program, and when the program ends, the jobs goes away,” Myhra said.

The government of Norway itself is also offering up its maintenance yard blueprints to Canada as part of the lobbying push.

Hanwha, meanwhile, is competing fiercely to sell Canada on its KSS-III submarines — larger vessels that the company has repeatedly said could be delivered much faster than any competing offer.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly paid a visit to Hanwha’s Geoje shipyard on Monday and boarded the first of Hanwha’s KSS-III Batch II submarines — the ones it’s pitching to Ottawa.

Joly is in Asia for five days of meetings with major companies to discuss Ottawa’s desire to attract large investments to Canada’s defence-related sectors.

Her visit comes a month after Prime Minister Mark Carney visited a Hanwha submarine manufacturing facility in South Korea, and weeks ahead of the anticipated release of Canada’s new defence industrial strategy.

Hanwha has meantime been busy signing co-operation deals with multiple Canadian firms, including Babcock Canada and PCL Construction.

The submarine project is a high priority for Ottawa and is among the first projects to be overseen by the Carney government’s Defence Investment Agency, a new office managing large military purchases.

The federal government is advancing the project at a rapid clip for such a large military acquisition, and wants to sign a contract by 2028 at the latest. Procurements of this size typically take years to finalize.

Ottawa privately sent bid instructions to the two sub makers on Nov. 14. The Canadian government has refused to make those instructions public, citing national security concerns.

Public Services and Procurement Canada spokesperson Nicole Allen said in an emailed statement that the instructions will help the two firms “shape their offers, including in the areas of economic and strategic value for Canada, platform operations, platform engineering and sustainment, financial data and contracting.”

“Given the sensitive nature of procuring an advanced submarine capability, the bid instructions will not be made public given the national security and sovereignty context,” she added.

A source familiar with the instructions said the government’s scoring of the bids will place most of the emphasis on the boats’ long-term maintenance.

The source said sustainment makes up half of the weight of the bid, with 15 per cent going to the cost of the subs, 15 per cent to the economic benefits and 20 per cent to sub capabilities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 24, 2025.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press