Following the announcement of the two nations’ evolving submarine co-operation in February, Norwegian Defence Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide and her German counterpart, Ursula von der Leyen, met on 22 August in Eckernförde, Germany’s submarine base on the Baltic Sea. The two defence ministers inspected the German Navy’s submarine training facilities and boarded a German U212A-class submarine. “Norway is absolutely our partner of choice,” von der Leyen said, and Søreide called the deal a “win-win situation”.

Norway plans to procure four type 212 Common Designs (CDs) (formerly Norway/Germany-Next Generation [NG]) from Germany’s naval industry. Under the February agreement, Germany will also buy two submarines in the same CD configuration.