Poland's Saab Submarine Deal Moves to Crew Training This Month
Polish submariners begin training in August on a borrowed Swedish boat while Saab builds three A26 Blekinge-class submarines for Poland.
Saab press image, published by Saab's newsroom for media use with the Poland A26 order announcement
Polish submarine crews start hands-on training this month aboard a borrowed Swedish Navy boat, the first operational step in a program that will eventually put three new Saab-built A26 submarines under the Polish flag. The training milestone, not a new announcement, is the news: Poland signed its SEK 47 billion contract with Saab in late June, and August marks the point where the deal starts producing trained crews rather than paperwork.
A gap-filler while the real boats get built
Poland’s long-running Orka program, aimed at replacing its aging submarine fleet, culminated June 29 in a contract with Sweden’s Saab for three A26-type Blekinge-class submarines. Saab’s own release states the value at SEK 47 billion; independent outlets convert that figure differently depending on exchange rate, with Defense News reporting roughly $4.8 billion and Naval News putting it at approximately 4.26 billion euros. Those are conversions of the same underlying number, not competing estimates. Deliveries will run continuously through final completion in 2038, with the first Polish boat expected in 2031, the same year Sweden’s own lead boat, HMS Blekinge, is due to enter service.
That seven-to-twelve-year delivery window is exactly why the interim arrangement matters. Poland is leasing the Swedish Navy’s HMS Sodermanland, an older A17-class submarine, so Polish crews can begin training and even operational missions well before their own A26s exist. Naval News reports that Polish submariner training on the leased boat begins this month, meaning Poland gains a functioning submarine capability in 2026 rather than waiting until 2031, a gap of roughly five years that would otherwise have left Poland without an operational submarine force during a period of heightened Baltic Sea tension.
“We are deeply honoured that Poland has chosen Saab’s submarines to bolster its defence capabilities and strengthen the strategic partnership between our two nations,” said Micael Johansson, President and CEO of Saab (Saab, Saab receives order for three submarines for Poland, June 29, 2026).
A fifth-generation design, and a still-secret missile
Saab markets the A26 as a fifth-generation submarine, built around Stirling air-independent propulsion, a system that lets the boat stay submerged for extended periods without surfacing to snorkel for air, and a wide bow-mounted lock called the Multi-Mission Portal, which allows the submarine to launch divers or unmanned underwater vehicles directly. Those two features are what separate the A26 from Poland’s aging Cold War-era boats: longer covert patrols and the ability to deploy uncrewed systems from underwater rather than requiring a surface ship or a return to port.
The weapons package includes Saab’s own light and heavy torpedoes, the Lightweight Torpedo and Torped 62, with possible integration of the newer Torped 63, but the submarine will also carry a missile Saab has not yet publicly named. Naval News reports Saab’s CEO has confirmed only that it “isn’t a cruise missile,” leaving open what class of weapon it actually is. Naval News speculates it could be a variant of Norway’s Joint Strike Missile, the JSM-SL, but that is unconfirmed analyst speculation rather than a confirmed detail, and should be read as such.
Why this beat five other bidders
Saab’s A26 won out over competing bids from France’s Naval Group, Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, Italy’s Fincantieri, South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean and Spain’s Navantia, a field that included some of the world’s most established submarine builders. The Blekinge-class design traces its lineage directly to Saab’s Gotland-class submarines, the boats that pioneered Stirling AIP technology for Sweden decades ago and established Saab’s underwater engineering credibility in the first place. WeaponSpecs’ own A26 Blekinge-class system record currently describes only the two boats Saab is building for Sweden’s own navy and predates this Poland order, a reminder that a contract signed in June can outrun a database record faster than it outruns the shipyard itself.
Beyond the hardware, Saab has committed to building submarine maintenance, repair and overhaul capability inside Poland itself, partnering with local industry rather than keeping all servicing work in Sweden. Naval analysts describe the overall deal as NATO’s most significant Baltic Sea undersea-capability expansion since the Cold War, a framing that reflects both the number of new hulls entering a contested sea and the alliance-wide logistics tail, interim leases, local MRO, joint training, built around this single procurement.
Sources
- Poland's A26 Submarine Deal: Details on Weapons Package, Interim Boat, and Delivery Schedule — Naval News, Jul 28, 2026
- Saab receives order for three submarines for Poland — Saab, Jun 29, 2026
- Poland awards $4.8 billion A26 submarine deal to Saab — Defense News, Jun 29, 2026
- Saab to Supply Three A26 Blekinge-Class Submarines to Poland to Improve Baltic Sea Security — Army Recognition, Nov 1, 2025
Systems mentioned
Every system named in this story, with its photo and, where available, a video. Tap a card to open the full spec sheet.
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Submarine
A26 Blekinge-class
Submarine
Gotland-classFrequently asked questions
What did Poland actually buy? +
Three Saab-built A26 (Blekinge-class) submarines under a SEK 47 billion contract signed June 29, 2026, roughly 4.3 billion euros or 4.8 to 5.3 billion dollars depending on conversion rate, with deliveries running through 2038.
Why is this in the news now if the contract was signed in June? +
Because Polish submarine crews begin hands-on training this month, August 2026, aboard a Swedish Navy submarine, HMS Sodermanland, leased as a stop-gap so Poland has operational undersea capability years before its own A26s arrive.
What makes the A26 different from older submarines? +
It uses Stirling air-independent propulsion for extended submerged endurance without surfacing to snorkel, and it has a wide bow Multi-Mission Portal for launching divers or unmanned underwater vehicles. Saab markets it as a fifth-generation design.
What weapons will the submarines carry? +
A mix of Saab light and heavy torpedoes, the Lightweight Torpedo and Torped 62, possibly Torped 63, plus an as-yet-undisclosed missile that Saab's CEO has only confirmed is not a cruise missile. Some naval analysts speculate it could be Norway's JSM-SL, but that is unconfirmed.
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