OSLO (Reuters) - Norway has picked Germany as its strategic partner for new submarines, making Thyssenkrupp (DE:TKAG) the likely supplier, Defence Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide announced on Friday.
The Nordic country said last April France's DCNS and ThyssenKrupp were the strongest candidates to supply submarines to replace its existing fleet.
"Norway will now enter into final negotiations with German authorities. When a government-to-government agreement is in place, a German-Norwegian negotiation towards the German submarine supplier Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems will commence," Norway's Defence Ministry said in a statement.
The submarines will be based on the so-called 212-design already in service in Germany and Italy.
Norway's Kongsberg Gruppen (OL:KOG) is expected to be a key supplier of equipment to the submarines.
The aim is to sign a common contract for submarines in 2019, enabling deliveries from the mid-2020s to 2030, Norway said.
"Independent of this decision, the work to establish further cooperation with other nations continues in order to achieve even greater synergies and economies of scale. Norway has for several years worked closely (with) ... the Netherlands and Poland to create a broad submarine cooperation. This work will continue," it added.