MSPO 2025: Polish PGZ and French Naval Group join forces for future Orka submarine fleet.

According to Naval Group’s press release dated 4 September 2025 from Kielce during MSPO, the French shipbuilder confirmed it has signed an Industrial Cooperation Agreement with Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa and PGZ Stocznia Wojenna. The document points to advanced manufacturing work linked to submarines and other specialized naval vessels and, in plain terms, it gives fresh substance to Naval Group’s offer for Poland’s Orka submarine program. The Scorpene family that Naval Group proposes typically fields 533 mm heavy torpedoes such as the F21, encapsulated Exocet SM39 anti-ship missiles, and the SUBTICS combat management system, with an air independent propulsion option that keeps the boat submerged far longer than batteries alone.
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Naval Group and PGZ sign an Industrial Cooperation Agreement for the Orka program, opening Polish build and support of Scorpene submarines with AIP endurance, SUBTICS sensors, F21 torpedoes and SM39 missiles (Picture source: Naval Group).

The new arrangement, signed at MSPO 2025, is described as a step-change in how the two groups would work together. Naval Group speaks of integrating the Polish defense industry into its supply chain. PGZ’s leadership frames it as a way to expand domestic production capacity while training the workforce to handle top tier submarine tasks. Neither side is promising a full workshare map in public and there is no final selection for Orka yet, but the direction is clear enough. The intent is to localize meaningful chunks of construction and life-cycle support in Poland and to do so in a way that will endure beyond a single order. It sets up real industrial plumbing between Saint-Nazaire, Cherbourg and the yards on the Baltic.

The platform underpinning Naval Group’s pitch is well known to submarine operators, from India to Brazil and now Indonesia. A typical Scorpene variant sits around 70 meters in length with a displacement near 2,000 tons in dive trim, though dimensions vary by client. The pressure hull is built from high-yield steel sections joined into modular blocks, which is precisely the sort of work that can be transferred, progressively, to a partner shipyard. Propulsion is centered on a permanent magnet motor driven by diesel generators and battery packs, with quieting measures that cut radiated noise and structure-borne vibrations. The AIP choice in recent export conversations has moved toward a fuel-cell based system that consumes oxygen and a reformed fuel to generate electricity without the noise of a running diesel. In practice, that lets the submarine remain underwater for days to weeks depending on speed.

Weapons and sensors are integrated through SUBTICS, a combat system that fuses bow, flank and towed array sonar data with electronic support measures and the inputs of two non-penetrating optronic masts. From those 533 mm tubes, the boat can launch F21 heavyweights designed to chase fast, deep-diving targets or slow, quiet ones and can also fire Exocet SM39 in an encapsulated canister. The missile exits the tube, reaches the surface, ignites and transitions to sea-skimming flight toward a target tracked through the periscope mast or via off-board cueing. Scorpene variants can also lay mines or support special forces with a lock-out chamber and space for swimmers and inflatable craft. It is a stealthy, compact attack submarine optimized for contested littorals and choke points.

That profile fits the Baltic Sea’s shallow, noisy and crowded waters. In such an environment, the ability to stay down quietly for long periods and move in short sprints is worth more than raw speed. A modern SSK can sit off Kaliningrad’s approaches, watch traffic patterns and push targeting information to surface and air assets, while keeping a torpedo or an SM39 in reserve to deny access if needed. The same hull can insert a small team against a hostile coastline at night and vanish before dawn. With AIP, snorkel exposure windows shrink, which cuts detection risk from radar, infrared and acoustic sensors. Training crews and maintainers, and building a domestic maintenance pipeline for batteries, sensors, software and acoustic coatings, is a multi-year task. That is exactly why an early industrial agreement is useful. It gets Polish engineers and technicians into the loop now and shortens the time from contract to operational availability later.

PGZ Stocznia Wojenna has been rebuilding capability since major recapitalization efforts began, and Poland has made shipyard upgrades a priority alongside its booming land and air programs. Transferring modules, outfitting processes, quality standards and software toolchains into that ecosystem would anchor submarine expertise on the Baltic coast rather than flying teams in and out of France for the next 30 years. For Naval Group, creating a reliable partner yard for hull sections and heavy outfitting expands capacity at a time when the company is busy with French and export programs. The arrangement can be widened to other specialized vessels, which gives both sides more flexibility when budgets move or timelines slip.

France and Poland signed a Treaty on Enhanced Cooperation and Friendship in Nancy on 9 May 2025. The defense chapter from that accord is now receiving practical follow-through. Poland’s navy faces a simple arithmetic problem. Legacy submarines are at the end of their lives and the country sits next to Russia’s Baltic Fleet and the anti-access bubble around Kaliningrad. Undersea infrastructure in the region, from communications cables to gas pipelines, became a front-page vulnerability after the Nord Stream explosions. NATO wants more allied mass underwater in the Baltic and more resilience in regional shipbuilding. An Orka decision that includes real local work would hit all three objectives. None of this rules out other bidders, and Warsaw has kept its options open, but the ICA signals that Naval Group is investing ahead of a decision and is ready to make Poland part of its long-run supply chain.

The Kielce signing is a practical step that ties an export offer to an industrial plan. It lays out how Poland could build, equip and sustain advanced submarines at home, and how a European shipbuilder can spread workload across trusted yards while raising capacity. The hardware piece is credible and well understood. The operational fit to the Baltic is obvious. What remains is the political choice in Warsaw. This agreement makes that choice easier to execute if the Scorpene path is selected, and it leaves the door open to wider naval cooperation if the program takes another turn.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.