--- title: "Poland Orders Three Saab Submarines for About $4.8 Billion as Europe Rearms" description: "Poland has signed a roughly $4.8 billion contract with Sweden's Saab for three new A26 submarines, one of Europe's biggest defense deals this year. It's the latest sign of a historic rearmament wave that has sent European defense budgets — and defense stocks — soaring since Russia's invasion of Ukraine." category: "Companies" category_url: https://boursel.com/category/companies author: "Hannah Blackwood" published: 2026-06-29T17:43:00.000Z updated: 2026-06-29T17:43:00.000Z canonical: https://boursel.com/article/poland-orders-three-saab-submarines-for-about-4-8-billion-dollars-as-europe-rear tags: ["saab", "defense", "poland", "nato", "rearmament", "companies"] --- # Poland Orders Three Saab Submarines for About $4.8 Billion as Europe Rearms Poland has signed a roughly $4.8 billion contract with Sweden's Saab for three new A26 submarines, one of Europe's biggest defense deals this year. It's the latest sign of a historic rearmament wave that has sent European defense budgets — and defense stocks — soaring since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Europe's rush to rearm just produced one of its largest deals of the year. **Poland** has signed a contract worth about **$4.8 billion** (roughly 47 billion Swedish kronor) with Sweden's **Saab** to build **three A26 submarines** for the Polish navy, [Defense News reported](https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2026/06/29/poland-awards-48-billion-a26-submarine-deal-to-saab/). The agreement, signed Monday in the Baltic port of Gdynia, is among the most significant European defense procurements of 2026. ## The deal The three boats — modern, diesel-electric **A26** submarines built by Saab's **Kockums** shipyard — will replace Poland's aging Soviet-era submarine fleet, with deliveries running toward **2038**, [per Breaking Defense](https://breakingdefense.com/2026/06/poland-signs-4-8-billion-contract-for-saab-made-a26-submarines/). The contract bundles in weapons and long-term training and support. Saab also said it would **invest in Poland** — on the order of €100 million — and work with the Polish state defense group **PGZ** to set up local maintenance and technology facilities, bringing work to Polish industry. Officials framed it as a milestone. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called it "a very large and long-term deal," while Saab chief executive Micael Johansson tied it to "enhancing security in the Baltic Sea region." (Quotes per the cited reporting.) ## Why it matters: the rearmament wave The order is a symptom of a broader, structural shift. Since **Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022**, European countries — especially those near Russia — have ramped up military spending at a pace not seen in decades. **Poland** now spends roughly **4.7%–4.8% of its GDP** on defense, the **highest share in NATO**, ahead even of the United States, and has been on an arms-buying spree spanning tanks, rockets and air defense. The numbers are striking. EU defense budgets have climbed from about **€218 billion in 2021 to an expected €381 billion in 2025**, [according to European Parliament research](https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2026/06/29/poland-awards-48-billion-a26-submarine-deal-to-saab/) — and at their 2025 summit, NATO members agreed to push defense-and-security spending toward **5% of GDP by 2035**. The Baltic states are leading the charge, modernizing fleets and forces that until recently leaned on Cold War-era equipment. ## The market angle For investors, the rearmament theme has been one of the most powerful in European equities. Shares of major defense contractors — **Saab, Germany's Rheinmetall, Britain's BAE Systems, Italy's Leonardo and France's Thales** — have risen sharply over the past two years as orders pour in. A multibillion-dollar, multi-decade contract like Poland's adds visible, long-dated revenue to **Saab's order book**, the kind of backlog that underpins the sector's re-rating. ## The bigger picture The Polish submarine deal is less a one-off than a marker of a continent rebuilding military capacity it had let atrophy in the post-Cold-War decades. For Saab, it's a flagship win and a deeper foothold in a frontline NATO market. For investors, it reinforces a thesis Boursel will keep tracking: European defense spending looks like a **structural, multi-year build-out**, not a temporary spike — with the contractors that supply the hardware among its clearest beneficiaries. The caveat, as ever with defense programs, is execution: big, decade-long shipbuilding contracts can slip on cost and schedule, and the revenue arrives over many years, not at once. ## Sources - [Poland awards $4.8 billion A26 submarine deal to Saab](https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2026/06/29/poland-awards-48-billion-a26-submarine-deal-to-saab/) - [Poland signs $4.8 billion contract for Saab-made A26 submarines](https://breakingdefense.com/2026/06/poland-signs-4-8-billion-contract-for-saab-made-a26-submarines/)