Training of Polish submariners and support staff by their Swedish counterparts will begin in August 2026 — ahead of the original schedule.
At the end of 2025, Poland announced it had chosen Saab A26 Blekinge-class submarines for its upcoming Orka submarine programme.Three boats will be bought to replace its single Soviet-era Kilo-class submarine in a deal anticipated to be worth in the region of 10 billion Polish zloty — a little over £2 billion.
In addition leasing a fourth Swedish boat will enable Poland to maintain its submarine capability while the new submarines are being built. HMS Södermanland is currently being prepared by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) and Saab ahead of the upcoming lease, and it is expected to be ready to transfer during 2027.
Initially the boat will be crewed by mostly Swedish sailors, who will be replaced by their Polish counterparts as the training programme progresses.
Ahead of the delivery of the leased and new submarines, training of Polish crews on modern submarine systems will take place via a programme in Karlskrona, Sweden.
As per a Swedish Navy press statement, planning for this programme is well underway, with extensive bilateral engagements between the submarine personnel of both nations.
Training programme project manager at the First Submarine Flotilla Lieutenant Commander Joakim Sjöström said: “This is a highly compelling project with a compressed timeline… This programme will lay the foundation for future mutual exchanges and the development of submarine warfare capabilities in our immediate vicinity, which is highly positive.”
Submarine technicians will be the first Polish personnel to begin instruction, as the boats systems and engineering is complex and requires high levels of technical expertise.
Submarine safety, rescue, and weapons handling are among other critical areas which will receive early attention. In addition, Polish submariners have been embedded aboard Swedish submarines during the last 12 months and this arrangement will be extended going forward.
Previously, Sweden has trained four Australian crews alongside the sale of six submarines; as well as four Singaporean crews when it sold the nation five Sjöormen-class boats. It also trained a Danish crew to use the leased submarine HMS Näcken.
Its most recent programme involved training two further Singaporean submarine crews ahead of the sale of HMS Västergötland and HMS Hälsingland to Singapore in 2005.
The 66-metre A26 Blekinge-class next-generation submarines being built by Saab Kockums are diesel-electric submarines with air-independent propulsion (AIP). They also feature multi-mission portals for both diver operations and deploying uncrewed underwater vehicles.
- You can read more details on the Swedish Navy website