A €5.5 billion contract for development and procurement of the six submarines was placed with TKMS on 8 July 2021[16][17] after the German and Norwegian governments reached an agreement in principle in March.

In Kiel, a German-Norwegian Building Program Office (BPO) is to be set up and tasked with representing the two states in matters of design, construction and acceptance.

[28][29] The submarines will be based on, but nearly twice the size of the current Type 212A class and features a new stealth design - the hull will be diamond-shaped to deflect emissions by the active sonars[30] common on modern anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ships.

[citation needed] Just like the Type 212A, the submarines will be fitted with a hydrogen fuel cell-based air-independent propulsion system, although they will receive two (MTU 4000 series) diesel engines instead of one.

[20] A new combat system ("ORCCA") to be developed by kta naval systems, a joint venture between TKMS' naval electronics division Atlas Elektronik and Norwegian manufacturer Kongsberg will be installed on the boats[31] and is claimed to allow the analysis of larger amounts of sensor data as well as to improve interoperability with allied forces.

[citation needed] In December 2024 it was reported that the Bundestag passed funding for the submarine launched version of the IDAS Missile.