Kongsberg and thyssenkrupp established a 50/50 joint venture named 'kta Naval Systems' which will develop, produce and maintain combat systems as an exclusive supplier for submarines from thyssenkrupp Marine Systems. kta naval systems is operated through headquarters in Kongsberg, Norway and a branch office in Bremen, Germany.

With the new joint venture, the companies will be in a position to offer the full range of services for conventional submarines including design, development, construction and combat systems.

German and the Norwegian governments had signed a government-to-government agreement at the end of June 2017 for the joint development, procurement, operation and maintenance of submarines and marine ordnance. Having received the request for proposal, thyssenkrupp and its partners are currently developing a detailed concept to offer four submarines to the Norwegian Navy and two submarines to the German Navy. It is currently planned to sign a joint contract for the new 212 Common Design (CD) submarines in 2019. Based on this, the submarines could be delivered from the mid-2020s.