Naval Group Signs Industrial Cooperation Agreement with The Netherlands
On September 10, minister of economic affairs of the Netherlands, Dirk Beljaarts and chairman and CEO of Naval Group, Pierre Eric Pommellet signed the Industrial Cooperation Agreement (ICA) related to the contract for the Replacement Netherlands Submarine Capability (RNSC) programme that will be signed soon by the Netherlands ministry of defence. The signing ceremony was held at the ministry of economic affairs in The Hague.
The ICA is a binding document that lays out the industrial cooperation strategy of Naval Group with the Netherlands defence and maritime sector for the RNSC programme. The Netherlands selected Naval Group to deliver four new generation expeditionary submarines, based on the Barracuda family design. This new class of submarines meets the operational needs and aims at being a worthy replacement to the current Walrus-class.
The ICA forms an important part of the submarine programme as it contains the industrial cooperation plan involving the Netherlands industries and knowledge centres, with the aim of maximising strategic autonomy. Under this agreement, Naval Group will cooperate over a period of 20 years with numerous key Dutch companies and knowledge institutes. This major project already involves a combination of large companies, SMEs, innovative high-tech companies and knowledge institutes. This agreement paves the way to a long-term partnership with the ambition to create value over the full life-cycle of these four new submarines.
Chairman and CEO of Naval Group, Pierre Eric Pommellet stated: “It is an honour to be in the Hague today to sign the Industrial Cooperation Agreement which is a major step for the RNSC programme. This agreement lays out an ambitious cooperation between the Netherlands Defence Technological and Industrial Base (NLDTIB) and Naval Group to build the next generation of the Royal Netherlands Navy’s submarines together. We are eager to keep leveraging on this cooperation in the future. The Netherlands Defence Technological and Industrial Base delivers high-performing and niche solutions that will be widely included in this programme and I view Naval Group as extremely lucky to be able to work closely with such skilled partners within the framework of this programme and beyond, for the decades to come.”
The ICA will lead to a significant strengthening of NLDTIB in the field of design, development and production of critical components and subsystems for state-of-the-art submarines, but also for systems for surface vessels. CEO of Royal IHC, Derk te Bokkel said, “We extend our congratulations to Naval Group and the Netherlands ministry of economic affairs. The signing of the ICA is an important step in the programme and for the Royal Netherlands Navy in their vital work in ensuring security at sea and from the sea. As a shipbuilder and leading supplier of high-tech maritime technology, Royal IHC is proud to contribute to this strategic project, together with broad participation from the Dutch industry. We are confident that the project will only further boost the Dutch maritime ecosystem including the preservation and further development of Dutch knowledge, employment, and economy.”
Managing director of Verebus, Pieter van Breugel added, “For years we worked towards a long-term strategic partnership with Naval Group, and this brought us to this unique moment in time. Verebus is looking forward to a fruitful collaboration, which already resulted in a first signed contract to start the development of a sustainable and efficient engineering support model for the submarines of the RNSC programme.”