Sweden’s sale of three A26 submarines to Poland will replace Warsaw’s aging Soviet-built boat and strengthen NATO’s underwater superiority in the Baltic Sea, Swedish media said on Thursday.
Poland’s government on Wednesday approved the purchase of three modern submarines from Sweden under the Orka program, described as one of the navy’s key modernization efforts. Poland now operates only one submarine, the ORP “Orzeł,” built in 1985 in the Soviet Union and frequently in need of repairs.
Daily Dagens Nyheter compared the deal to swapping “a Soviet Lada from the 1980s for a new Volvo” and said the A26 boats will give Poland greater stealth, reconnaissance capacity and the ability to deploy divers and underwater drones, as well as more flexible weapons and sensors.
The paper said three new submarines based on the Baltic coast would be “another reinforcement of dominance beneath the surface” for NATO, which it said has 11 submarines in the Baltic compared with Russia’s two to four.
Dagens Nyheter noted the A26 has so far been ordered only by Sweden’s navy, which is awaiting two boats, HMS Blekinge and HMS Skane, after a program marked by cost overruns and delays that pushed delivery from 2027–28 to 2031–33.
Public broadcaster SVT said cooperation with Poland could help share Sweden’s submarine development costs and support jobs and shipyard activity in Karlskrona, in the economically weaker south.
Swedish Radio said the deal could allow Sweden and Poland to “block” the Baltic Sea, with experts stressing that Swedish submarines are tailored to the region’s specific conditions.
The three A26 Blekinge-class submarines, built by Saab-Kockums, will have a modular design, diesel-electric propulsion and air-independent propulsion, allowing longer submerged operations. They will carry 533 mm torpedo tubes and a dock for unmanned underwater vehicles and covert insertion of special forces.
(jh)
Source: PAP