In a monumental shift for NATO’s northeastern flank, Poland has officially cemented a $4.83 billion contract with Sweden’s Saab to acquire three state-of-the-art A26 Blekinge-class submarines. Signed on June 29, 2026, by Poland’s State Treasury Armaments Agency, the agreement represents the culmination of Warsaw's long-running Orka program and delivers the most significant expansion of undersea capabilities in the Baltic Sea since the end of the Cold War.
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| Illustration: A Saab A26 Blekinge-class submarine navigating through Baltic Sea waters, representing Poland's modern undersea defense capabilities. (Image by Saab) |
Scheduled for final delivery in 2038, the comprehensive package includes advanced weaponry, comprehensive training, and long-term logistical support. To ensure operational readiness while the new vessels are under construction, the Polish Navy will bridge the gap by borrowing the Swedish Navy’s HMS Södermanland to immediately commence vital crew training. The deal underscores a rapidly deepening strategic partnership between Warsaw and Stockholm, permanently altering the maritime balance of power in Europe's most heavily contested waters.
Securing this technological marvel required navigating seven months of exceptionally tense negotiations that repeatedly threatened to collapse under the weight of strict industrial offset demands. As recently as mid-June 2026, the deal appeared hopelessly deadlocked. Warsaw had drawn a hard line, demanding a comprehensive technology transfer package and insisting that Sweden purchase the Ratownik rescue vessel from the Polish PGZ naval shipyard in Gdynia as a precondition for the contract.
Deputy Minister of State Assets Konrad Gołota had even set a public, end-of-June ultimatum, threatening to reopen negotiations with Italy’s Fincantieri and South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean if the industrial cooperation package was not finalized. The intense global competition for the Orka program had already seen Saab edge out heavyweights like France’s Naval Group, Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, and Spain’s Navantia. Ultimately, the strategic logic of utilizing a Swedish design explicitly optimized for the Baltic Sea prevailed, and while specific terms of the offset package were kept discreet in the final announcement, the successful June 29 signature confirmed that Poland's industrial demands had been met.
The A26 Blekinge-class is not merely a conventional submarine competing on price; it is aggressively marketed by Saab as the world’s first "fifth-generation" submarine, earning the moniker through a revolutionary fusion of capabilities. Measuring approximately 62 meters (203 feet) with a surfaced displacement of roughly 1,800 tonnes, the vessel accommodates a standard crew of 26, with extra capacity for up to 35 personnel to support special operations forces.
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| A26-type submarine / Photo credit: Saab |
Its defining feature is a Stirling-cycle air-independent propulsion (AIP) system that burns liquid oxygen and diesel to generate electricity. This allows the A26 to remain fully submerged and continuously operational for more than 18 days without needing to surface or use a snorkel, allowing it to slip silently beneath Russian surface ships and anti-submarine aircraft. Furthermore, its acoustic signature is meticulously engineered for the Baltic’s notoriously shallow and acoustically complex environment, where sonar conditions typically make detection easier for hunters and infinitely more dangerous for the hunted.
Crucially for Warsaw’s strategic deterrence architecture, the A26 platform offers the option of being fitted with vertical launch system (VLS) cells compatible with Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles. This addition provides Poland with a highly survivable, submarine-launched conventional strike capability—a dimension the Polish government has aggressively pursued as it builds out a formidable long-range precision strike network. Beyond land attack, the A26 is armed with long-range precision torpedoes for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, features a specialized portal for the launch and recovery of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) for seabed warfare and intelligence gathering, and is highly capable of conducting covert minelaying operations. In the geographically confined choke points of the Baltic Sea, a single well-placed minefield deployed by an undetected submarine can dramatically paralyze an adversary’s naval movements.
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| A26-type submarine Image credit NavalNews |
This technological leap provides a night-and-day transformation for a Polish undersea force that had effectively aged out of relevance. Prior to the Orka program’s award, Poland’s submarine fleet was reduced to a single, obsolete Soviet-era Kilo-class diesel-electric boat that offered virtually zero warfighting or deterrent value against modern threats. With Russia maintaining a heavily fortified naval base in the Kaliningrad enclave—one of only two Russian naval hubs in the Baltic—the region remains a critical flashpoint for NATO anti-submarine warfare planning. Deploying three ultra-quiet, long-endurance A26 submarines capable of striking land targets with cruise missiles upgrades Poland's maritime posture from a coastal defense force to a dominant regional strike power.
The successful finalization of the deal was met with immediate praise from leadership in both nations. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson celebrated the contract as a cornerstone of regional defense, stating that the long-term deal will make the Polish Navy one of the strongest in all of NATO and that a formidable Polish submarine force fundamentally strengthens security across the shared alliance. Echoing this sentiment, Saab CEO Micael Johansson noted his deep honor in Poland choosing Saab to bolster its defense capabilities, emphasizing that the vessels will play a pivotal role in securing the Baltic Sea region.
For Saab, the Polish contract is a vital lifeline that injects much-needed stability into the A26 program. The Swedish government initially ordered two boats in 2015, but the project suffered severe delays and cost overruns, pushing Swedish deliveries into the early 2030s while costs more than doubled. By expanding the total production run to five submarines, Poland’s three-boat order provides the crucial economies of scale that Saab Kockums’ Karlskrona shipyard desperately needed to stabilize its supply chain and production schedules.
Ultimately, this maritime acquisition must be viewed through the lens of Poland's broader emergence as NATO’s most aggressive defense investor. Funded in part through the EU’s SAFE loan program—which allocated a staggering €43.7 billion to Poland for arms purchases—the A26 submarines add a lethal undersea dimension to a military rapidly modernizing on all fronts. With Warsaw already integrating South Korean FA-50 combat jets, K2 tanks, and K9 howitzers, while simultaneously preparing for the arrival of 32 American F-35A stealth fighters and expanding its Patriot air defense networks, the Orka program's conclusion ensures that Poland's naval capabilities will now match the overwhelming modernization of its land and air forces.
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