Scorpene fitted with Naval Cruise Missiles, a gamechanger for Poland

The French offer is built on a strategic partnership between France and Poland to deliver the military and industrial autonomy that Poland requires. The Polish Scorpene equipped with naval cruise missiles will be the most powerful conventional submarine in NATO, with combat capabilities equivalent to those of the French SSN Barracuda. The French Embassy in Warsaw denied in an official statement the press articles that falsely claimed that France had withdrawn its support to the offer proposed by Naval Group and MBDA for the ORKA programme. The French authorities reaffirmed their full support to the providing of a naval deep strike capability to Poland through the French offer that includes Scorpene submarines fitted with naval cruise missiles. Naval Group and MBDA remain fully committed to propose the best possible offer to the Polish authorities for the Orka programme. We are awaiting the final decision of the Polish authorities to launch this strategic project in the framework of the new Armed Forces Technical Modernisation Plan. Our plan to cooperate on the long term with the Polish naval industry meets Polish authorities’ ambition to revitalize the Polish shipyards.

A strategic partnership

The deep strike capability is a very strategic military asset, which is reserved to very close and trustful allies. Such technology can be obtained only through government to government discussions. The French Authorities proposed to Poland such a strategic agreement to provide Poland with the full autonomy of use of the naval cruise missile (NCM). Only a handful of countries over the world operate a deep strike capability. No other country but France can offer Poland such a strategic asset along with its freedom of use. The Polish-French cooperation also includes a reinforcement of Navy to Navy cooperation, and technical assistance from the French Procurement Agency (DGA) to the MON all along the ORKA contract to reduce risk on the program and ensure the success of the program.

Spearheading NATO’s effort

Naval Group proposes to help the Polish Navy become NATO’s most powerful conventional submarine fleet. With our solution, Poland will acquire a credible military capability that will strengthen its position within NATO The transfer of technology from Naval Group to Poland will reinforce the autonomy of the Polish authorities by allowing national construction and maintenance of the submarines over their whole life cycle.

An ambitious local content plan

Naval Group signed a cooperation agreement at the end of November 2017, defining the perimeter of the industrial cooperation to be implemented if Naval Group is selected in the ORKA competition. Our cooperation plan goes beyond the ORKA program to include the participation to the production of additional Scorpene platforms in Poland. More than 100 Polish companies will join Naval Group’s worldwide supply chain. The industrial cooperation will generate 2,000 jobs in Poland over a period of 15 years. The benefits from the transfer of technology and from the cooperation with Naval Group will strengthen the Polish naval industry and generate work for Polish shipyards and Polish workers on the long term, contributing to the revitalization of the shipyards. In case of a government to government acquisition procedure, the contract could be finalised within a year, thus industrial activities could start in Poland in 2019.   Dora GAUER Mob. +33 (0)7 72 42 48 96 dora.gauer@naval-group.com Jean DUPONT +33 (0)6 33 37 64 66 jean.dupont@mbda-systems.com