BERLIN — The German military intends to start the procurement process for a novel “Anti Torpedo Torpedo” in 2026, according to a budget planning document published by Politico Europe on Tuesday.
Defense officials plan to allocate €70 million ($83 million) for the system, marketed by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems as a kinetic interceptor to protect naval vessels against incoming torpedoes, according to the document.
Officials envision consideration of the procurement by the parliamentary budget committee during the panel’s May 6, 2026, session, with a written proposal due to lawmakers two weeks prior.
In an email to Defense News, a spokesman for the German defense ministry said he could not comment on the document or the program planning specifically.
Atlas Elektronik, a subsidiary of TKMS, has for years advertised its SeaSpider anti-torpedo torpedo as the world’s first market-ready kinetic interceptor, arguing it’s the only way to reliably eliminate torpedoes with increasingly sophisticated seekers.
Traditional torpedo defense has relied on tricking torpedo sensors into missing their target.
Development of the SeaSpider technology began as a joint project between Atlas and the Dutch TNO research organization almost 20 years ago. The work continues now with funding from the European Union’s PESCO – Permanent Structured Cooperation – framework, a mechanism meant to deepen cross-border defense ties in Europe.
The light torpedo is designed to independently lock onto and kill incoming torpedoes of any kind, serving as a short-distance, hard-kill interceptor. It has onboard sensors and homing abilities, and is uniquely driven by solid-fuel rocket propellant.
No country has officially placed an order for the SeaSpider yet, although earlier this year, the Netherlands announced its intention to buy the weapon. The German and Dutch navies, whose commands are integrated, were deeply involved in the development and testing of the system.
The Dutch navy’s anti-submarine warfare frigate will reportedly be the first to receive the new weapon in the Netherlands. On the German side, company officials have said their intended first user will be the new F127 frigate, whose planned progress through the German defense procurement motions roughly lines up.
The F127 is a new ship class for the German navy, serving as an air defense-oriented frigate. According to the spreadsheet, a procurement decision is envisioned for one month later, in June 2026, and will be worth €26 billion ($30.7 billion).
Linus Höller is Defense News’ Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds a master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.
