Carney’s visit to Germany includes the visit to shipyards as Canadian stores for a new fleet of submarines

While delivering the hard sales field last spring so that Canada buys its submarines, Oliver Burkhard, the CEO of Germany Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), used the expression “strategic partnership” half a dozen times.

Canada would be part of “a family,” he said.

We may have – perhaps – may soon have a better meaning if this approach is the music of Prime Minister Mark Carney and key members of his cabinet, who should spend a large part of Tuesday meeting German politicians and business leaders in Berlin before visiting the country’s first shipyard.

The Prime Minister will meet the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and should participate in a corporate round table in order to diversify Canada’s trade and offer a critical mineral partnership.

However, as with many elements of his European trip this week, defense and security problems are close to the Summit of the Carney agenda.

In the Gambit with high stakes, several billion dollars to replace Canada’s aging submarines – and largely inoperable – from the Victoria class, the Norwegian -designed 212CD type designed in German is perhaps the best known and the most marketed of the pretenders.

Last spring on the sidelines of the Ottawa Arms Expo Cansec, Burkhard, the senior German defense official Jasper Wieck and the Norwegian captain (N) Oystein Storebo has all seated with CBC News to discuss the TKMS news field, which was submitted last year at the request of the Canadian government.

Naval sites in South Korea, Sweden and Spain also responded to requests for information.

Germany and Norway, however, have been involved for several years in their own joint underwater construction program.

Canada is looking to buy 12 conventional propulsion submarines.

The 212CD type is based on the German type 212A design, which is operated by German and Italian navies.

Storebo, the director of submarines of the Norway program, said that the 212CD (CD refers to the common design) was designed for operations in all oceans, including the Arctic.

It was a necessity because Norway is an Arctic country. With its air independent propulsion system, the diesel electric boat can remain submerged for more than three weeks, added Storebo.

It is a large boat – 73 meters in length, 2,800 tonnes when it is submerged and with eight tubes of torpedo.

The initial order of $ 8.1 billion (5.5 billion euros) was six 212CDS – two for Germany and four for Norway. Each country now plans to build more, providing the total order up to 12 boats.

The German navy will receive its first 212CD in 2028 while Norway should be in the water the following year.

The Pitch TKMS also involves a plan to build an underwater interview center in Canada, creating jobs for Canadians – an important condition that the Liberal government has undergone several times.

Burkhard, who praised the cost savings for Germany and Norway in terms of supply and maintenance, said that if Canada joined the program, the first Canadian boat may arrive within 2032-33.

The shift in the production line at this stage would likely be to rethink one of the submarines already assigned to Germany or Norway.

“I think there are travel opportunities if one of them may be the Canadian first,” Burkhard told CBC News.

Although, he said, it depends a lot on the Canadian government and the speed at which it moves quickly.

Carney suggested that the government would like to have a decision on the underwater project by 2027.