Dutch court tosses out submarine deal lawsuit

THE HAGUE
Dutch judges on Wednesday turned down a lawsuit calling for a submarine deal between the Netherlands and France to be revised, saying there was “no reason” to further investigate the multi-billion-euro agreement.
The Netherlands in March picked French defense company Naval Group and its Dutch partner Royal IHC to build four new submarines for its navy, choosing the bid over one from Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) and Swedish defense group Saab AB.
TKMS then filed an objection before The Hague District Court, saying it believed that the Dutch state “has wrongly judged that its offer is invalid.”
The Kiel-based ship and submarine builder wanted judges to order a repeat of the procurement process “in an adapted form” or that “at least various further investigations would be carried out and that a new award decision would then be made.”
Dutch judges however said the state’s decision to declare TKMS’s bid invalid was “on good grounds.”
“Contrary to what TKMS argued, there is no reason for further investigations into Naval’s submission,” it added.
“The judge therefore dismisses TKMS’s claims in the summary proceedings.”
The vessels are set to replace the Netherland’s four Walrus class subs which entered service in the early 1990s. One of the Walrus class subs was decommissioned last year so that its spare parts could be used to keep the other three in operation.
An outgoing Dutch parliament in June approved the deal, ahead of the new government led by Dutch MP Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV party.
The decision is a boon for Naval Group, coming three years after it abruptly lost a major contract to build 12 Barracuda submarines for Australia.
It also comes as European countries have stepped up military spending in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The submarines will be built in Naval Group’s shipyards, but there will also be an industrial cooperation accord to “reinforce the technological and industrial base of the Dutch defense industry,” the French defense ministry has said.
The first two subs are to enter service within 10 years of the contract being signed.