Norway awards contract for 28 new standardised naval vessels

Norway has awarded a contract for the design and concept development of a new standardised vessel class for its armed forces.

The contract is issued by Forsvarsmateriell, the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency, as part of a major maritime procurement programme.

The assignment has been given to a consortium consisting of Salt Ship Design and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, both Norwegian suppliers within ship design and defence systems.

- The award to Salt Ship Design and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace represents an important step in the development of a new, standardized vessel class for the Norwegian Armed Forces, says Ronny Opsjøn Langset, Senior Vice President at Kongsberg, in a LinkedIn post.

The work will form the technical basis for a future shipbuilding tender expected to be launched in 2026.

The planned vessel class is intended to cover both offshore and coastal operations across the navy and the coast guard, making it one of the most comprehensive maritime investment programmes in Norway’s defence sector.

The programme is centred on a fleet of up to 28 vessels, intended to replace several existing ship classes and consolidate operations across the Royal Norwegian Navy and the coast guard. 

The fleet is expected to include both larger oceangoing vessels and smaller coastal units built on a shared platform, as previously reported.

According to Forsvarsmateriell, the vessels will be developed in two sizes and are intended to cover a broad range of operational needs across both services.

This standardisation is designed to address longstanding challenges linked to operating multiple vessel types, which have required separate training regimes, logistics chains and maintenance systems.

As civilian as possible

By introducing common systems and components, the ambition is to reduce lifecycle costs while increasing operational flexibility, according to earlier reporting.

At the same time, the scale of the programme is shifting attention within the competition. While traditional parameters such as design and acquisition cost remain relevant, increasing emphasis is being placed on long-term operability and sustainment.

- The decisive question is not who can design the most capable platform. It is who can keep it operational over time, naval analyst Tor Ivar Strømmen said in a previous interview in Defence Nordic.

The vessels will be developed according to the principle of being “as civilian as possible, and as military as necessary,” and are expected to support modular solutions and integration with autonomous systems.

The timeline for the programme has also been adjusted. Initial expectations of a first delivery in 2028 have been revised, with current estimates indicating that the first vessel will enter service around 2030, as previously reported.

According to Forsvarsmateriell, the design phase will run under a tight schedule, with a shipbuilding tender planned from 2026 and construction contracts expected from 2027.