Netherlands Orders French F21 Heavyweight Torpedo for Orka Submarines to Boost NATO Undersea Warfare.

Naval Group will equip the Royal Netherlands Navy’s future Orka-class submarines with the French F21 heavyweight torpedo, giving the Dutch fleet a modern undersea strike weapon from the start of the program rather than as a later upgrade. Signed with COMMIT on 16 June 2026, the contract strengthens the combat value of the Netherlands’ new Barracuda-family submarines for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare.

The F21 brings a 533 mm submarine-launched weapon with long-range guidance, electric propulsion, and autonomous terminal attack capability. Integrated during the engineering phase, it will help the Orka class enter service with a mature torpedo system suited to contested waters, sea denial missions, and NATO undersea deterrence.

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The Royal Netherlands Navy will equip its future Orka-class submarines with Naval Group’s F21 heavyweight torpedo, a 533 mm weapon designed for long-range anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare with fibre-optic guidance, autonomous acoustic homing, and a 50 km engagement range (Picture source: French MoD).

The significance of the decision is that the torpedo is being selected before submarine construction begins. That reduces later integration risk because the weapon, launch interfaces, combat management functions, crew training, magazines, handling equipment, test equipment, and safety certification can be incorporated into the design baseline before the hull and internal arrangements are frozen. For a small submarine force with only four boats planned, this sequencing matters: delays in weapon integration after delivery would reduce the number of operationally useful submarines during the transition from the Walrus class. The Dutch decision also links the future submarine’s main kinetic weapon to the same industrial supplier responsible for the submarine design, which should simplify responsibility for software interfaces, firing doctrine validation, and through-life technical support.

The F21 is a heavyweight torpedo developed under France’s Artémis program to replace the F17 torpedo. Naval Group gives its main dimensions as approximately 6,000 mm in length, 533 mm in diameter, and less than 1,500 kg in weight. Its stated performance envelope includes a 50 km range, speed settings from 25 knots or below to 50 knots or above, and operation from 10 m or less to more than 500 m depth. These figures place it in the heavyweight torpedo category used by submarines against both submerged and surface targets, rather than the lightweight torpedo category normally carried by helicopters, maritime patrol aircraft, and surface ships.

The weapon’s guidance architecture is central to its tactical value. During the launch and mid-course phase, the F21 uses a fibre-optic wire link that allows the submarine and torpedo to exchange information while the weapon is moving toward the target area. This is different from a fire-and-forget weapon because the submarine’s combat system can continue to update the engagement picture, compare onboard sonar data with torpedo sensor data, and redirect the torpedo if target classification changes. Naval Group states that if the wire is cut, the torpedo can continue autonomously on its programmed course and depth profile. In practical terms, the Dutch submarine commander retains control for as long as possible, but the weapon is not dependent on the link to complete the attack.

The F21’s terminal phase is based on its own acoustic sensors and onboard processing. Naval Group describes the torpedo as capable of operating in complex coastal environments, recognizing decoys, adapting speed, engaging distant targets, shifting to another target during a mission, and conducting another attack if the first attempt fails. Those characteristics are relevant to likely Dutch operating areas. The North Sea, Norwegian Sea, GIUK gap approaches, Baltic access routes, and North Atlantic reinforcement lanes all contain different acoustic problems: shallow water reverberation, commercial shipping noise, variable salinity, seabed clutter, and extensive use of countermeasures by modern submarines and surface combatants. A torpedo that can be guided during mid-course and then search autonomously in the terminal phase gives the firing submarine more control over engagements in these environments.

The armament effect is based on an underwater warhead rather than direct hull penetration. Open-source reporting on the French Navy’s December 2024 live firing described the F21 as carrying an insensitive explosive warhead of about 200 kg with an all-electric proximity fuze. In that trial, a French nuclear-powered attack submarine fired a combat F21 against the former patrol vessel Premier-Maître L’Her, which was destroyed and sank after impact effects from the underwater detonation. For the Royal Netherlands Navy, this means the Orka-class submarine’s principal torpedo will be able to attack submarines, frigates, amphibious ships, auxiliaries, and other surface vessels where underwater blast and structural shock are the decisive damage mechanisms.

The F21 is already qualified on French submarine classes and is operated by the French Navy’s nuclear-powered attack submarines and ballistic missile submarines, while Brazil selected it for its Scorpène submarines. The Dutch procurement will make the Royal Netherlands Navy the first NATO conventional submarine fleet to operate the F21. That distinction is operationally relevant because most NATO conventional submarine forces have relied on other heavyweight torpedo families, including the German SeaHake Mod 4 and the U.S. Mk 48 series. The Dutch choice therefore introduces another European torpedo line into NATO’s conventional submarine inventory and may create new opportunities, but also new requirements, for common exercise procedures, weapon safety rules, and logistics coordination.

For the Orka class, the F21 supports the stated Dutch requirement for submarines able to conduct intelligence collection, maritime strike, special operations support, and operations in both brown and blue water. These missions impose different weapon demands. In shallow water, the torpedo must discriminate targets against clutter and decoys; in open ocean, it must maintain endurance and search performance over greater distances; in covert surveillance, the submarine must be able to fire without closing unnecessarily inside the target’s anti-submarine warfare screen. The combination of 50 km range, wire guidance, acoustic homing, and autonomous re-attack gives the submarine commander more tactical options than a shorter-range weapon, but it does not remove the need for accurate classification, disciplined rules of engagement, and careful control of launch position.

The procurement also has an industrial and sustainment dimension. Naval Group says the Orka program is tied to a 20-year industrial cooperation plan with Dutch companies and knowledge institutes, while Dutch Defence notes that selecting the F21 early allows the weapon system to be integrated directly into the future submarine capability. The Dutch decision should be read less as a single torpedo purchase and more as a baseline design choice for the next three decades of Dutch underwater warfare. It defines the submarine’s primary kill mechanism, shapes crew training and combat-system integration, and commits the Royal Netherlands Navy to a French torpedo architecture at the start of the Orka-class life cycle.

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Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

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.