UK confirms exclusive Arrowhead 120 frigate bid for Sweden's $6 Billion Luleå-class competition.

Babcock and Saab are jointly proposing the UK-designed Arrowhead 120 frigate for Sweden's Luleå-class procurement, competing against France's Naval Group FDI and Spain's Navantia F110 offerings.

On February 6, 2026, in an interview with Dagens Nyheter, Ilgi Kim, commercial chief at Babcock, confirmed that the British company is offering the Arrowhead 120 frigate to Sweden exclusively through a joint proposal with Saab for the four-ship Luleå-class program. Babcock has not submitted a separate bid to Sweden Defence Materiel Administration for the competition valued at up to 60 billion kronor or about $6 billion. A final supplier decision is expected in early 2026, with a first delivery expected in 2030 as part of Sweden's naval expansion following NATO accession.
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If selected, the Arrowhead 120 frigate would likely adapt several combat systems, sensors, and weapons to meet specific Luleå-class requirements, potentially integrating Swedish systems such as national missiles and torpedoes. (Picture source: Saab)

Ilgi Kim confirmed that the company is offering the Arrowhead 120 frigate to Sweden exclusively through a joint proposal with Saab for the four-ship Luleå-class program and that Babcock has not submitted any separate bid to the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration. The clarification removed earlier assumptions that Babcock might present both a solo and a joint offer and formally position Saab-Babcock against France’s Naval Group FDI and Spain’s Navantia F110. The procurement is estimated at 40 to 60 billion Swedish kronor, equivalent to roughly $4.5 to $6.7 billion, and a final supplier selection is expected in early 2026. The schedule targets delivery of the first two frigates by 2030 and the remaining two by 2035, following contract negotiations after the design choice.

The program is considered Sweden’s largest surface combatant acquisition since the early 1980s and is directly linked to strengthened naval requirements in the Baltic Sea and the High North. The Luleå-class program emerged after the cancellation in 2023 of the Visby Generation 2 corvette effort, which had been launched in January 2021 with Saab Kockums contracted for the product definition phase of an evolved 72-meter design derived from the existing Visby-class stealth vessels. The rapidly changing security environment following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Sweden’s NATO accession on March 7, 2024, led to a requirement for larger ships exceeding 120 meters in length with extended endurance and enhanced multi-domain capability.

The revised concept reduced the planned fleet from five ships to four and shifted from a corvette-based evolution to a new frigate-class solution. The four ships are to be named HSwMS Luleå, HSwMS Norrköping, HSwMS Trelleborg, and HSwMS Halmstad, and they will become the largest Swedish surface combatants since the Östergötland- and Halland-class destroyers left service in the early 1980s. The objective is to field ships capable of sustained operations in northern waters rather than primarily short-range coastal defense as before. The Luleå-class requirement emphasizes air defense as a primary mission, combined with anti-submarine warfare and broader multi-role capacity compared with the current Visby- and Göteborg-class corvettes.

Swedish authorities have decided to examine mature foreign designs, adapted to national systems, to mitigate schedule risks and meet the 2030 delivery target for the first two units. One industrial model under consideration includes building hulls abroad and completing integration and outfitting domestically, similar to the earlier approach used for the intelligence ship HSwMS Artemis. The Luleå-class program is embedded in a broader defense expansion that includes an objective to raise defense spending to 3.5 percent of GDP by 2030 through a 300 billion kronor borrowing plan spread over eight years. Senior naval leadership has stated that the larger frigate design better aligns with Sweden’s NATO role, including support to Finland and defense of the Baltic littorals rather than exclusively territorial waters. 

The Saab-Babcock proposal is based on the Arrowhead 120, a 124-meter frigate derived from the Arrowhead 140 design that underpins the United Kingdom’s Type 31 frigate, as well as export variants for Indonesia and Poland. The Swedish configuration is cited at about 4,650 tonnes displacement with a steel hull and a lightweight composite superstructure, while baseline characteristics for the Arrowhead 120 list a length of 120 meters, a 19-meter beam, a displacement near 4,000 tonnes, a maximum speed exceeding 24 knots, and a range of 6,000 nautical miles at 15 knots. The propulsion arrangement follows a CODLAD configuration with engine rooms sized to accommodate a broad choice of diesel engines and generators.

The Arrowhead 120 is adapted for air defense and anti-submarine warfare in the Baltic Sea, North Sea, and Arctic operating zones, with its emphasis on endurance and survivability in cold-weather conditions. Furthermore, the ship’s dimensions place it within the size bracket identified for the Luleå-class, which is expected to displace between 3,000 and 4,500 tonnes depending on final configuration. The Arrowhead 120 incorporates reconfigurable mission bays and modular internal spaces intended to support rapid re-role between missions and accommodate containerized systems. Aviation facilities include a flight deck and hangar suitable for medium naval helicopters such as NH90 or MH-60 Seahawk, with the option to operate a lighter helicopter combined with an unmanned helicopter such as the AW-159 and MQ-8C.

The flight deck is sized to handle aircraft up to 15 tonnes, including the V-22 Osprey, and the layout links the hangar directly to mission bays to support modular payloads. A stern ramp is included for deployment and recovery of boats and unmanned surface or underwater vehicles up to 11 meters in length. Crew is projected at 80 personnel with accommodation for up to 80 additional embarked personnel, enabling embarked forces, aviation detachments, or mission specialists. Weapons provisions in the Arrowhead 120 design include vertical launch systems of up to 16 cells, a deck space for up to eight surface-to-surface guided weapons, a main gun provision up to 127 mm, and smaller guns up to 30 mm fitted with electro-optic sensors.

The frigate includes hull-mounted sonar for submarine detection and mine avoidance, with options for towed array sonar and torpedo defense systems. The combat system architecture is based on an open network structure intended to allow integration of different sensors, radars, and missile systems depending on customer requirements. Babcock highlights the inclusion of iFrigate digital monitoring technology for platform performance and through-life support optimization. The combination of modular mission spaces, aviation facilities, and scalable weapon options is presented as allowing adaptation to different national configurations. Saab leads combat system integration in the joint offer and would supply composite superstructures, anti-ship missiles, and lightweight torpedoes, drawing on experience from Singapore’s Multi-Role Combat Vessel program and Poland’s SIGINT ship.

In May 2024, Saab signed a contract with Babcock to proceed with the basic design phase of the Luleå-class under a Strategic Cooperation Agreement concluded in September 2023, with Babcock providing engineering support, including structural design and auxiliary systems. Representatives from Saab, the Swedish Navy, the UK Royal Navy, and FMV marked the beginning of cooperation at Babcock’s Rosyth facility in Scotland. Anti-air warfare is identified as one of the principal capabilities of the future ships, complementing ongoing upgrades to Sweden’s five Visby-class corvettes. If selected, the Arrowhead 120 would be adapted to Swedish requirements and could differ from the baseline configuration through integration of national sensors, missiles, and torpedoes, and possibly a modified vertical launch layout consistent with Sweden’s emphasis on surface-to-air missiles.

The Luleå-class displacement range of 3,000 to 4,500 tonnes suggests that the final configuration could vary depending on combat system, radar choice, and weapon load. Swedish systems such as national anti-ship missiles or lightweight torpedoes would likely be integrated under Saab’s leadership, potentially altering internal layout and weight distribution. Industrial execution may involve foreign hull construction combined with Swedish outfitting and long-term domestic support. The definitive differences between the Arrowhead 120 baseline and the final Luleå-class configuration will depend on the outcome of the early 2026 selection and subsequent contract negotiations.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.