TKMS and Cohere Sign Teaming Agreement to Advance AI-Enabled Capabilities for the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project
Press Release + Noah Note
The collaboration focuses on decision-support tools, onboard information management, training, and naval-specific secure interfaces.
The agreement underscores TKMS’s long-term commitment to Canadian industry and responsible, secure deployment of advanced AI technologies.
Kiel, January 13, 2026 – TKMS and Cohere, a leading security-first enterprise AI company, have signed a Teaming Agreement to jointly explore the integration of advanced AI technologies into the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP).
Through the collaboration, the companies will assess opportunities to apply state-of-the-art language and data-driven models to support decision-support workflows, onboard information management, training environments, and secure naval interfaces. The initiative aligns with Canada’s future submarine requirements and modernization priorities.
“Canada’s next-generation submarine project presents an opportunity to bring the most modern and reliable technologies to the Royal Canadian Navy. Cohere’s expertise in trustworthy AI models aligns perfectly with our vision and together, we aim to enhance the user experience and operational efficiency of future crews while maintaining the highest security and safety standards,” said Thomas Keupp, Chief Sales Officer, TKMS.
The partnership will focus on research, prototyping, and evaluation activities. Both organisations emphasize that any AI-enabled capabilities will adhere to the strict security, compliance, and operational demands of the Royal Canadian Navy and the Government of Canada.
"Submarines are the ultimate high-stakes workplace. Through our partnership with TKMS, we’re embedding critical solutions that empower sailors to act decisively," said Dave Ferris, VP of Americas and Global Public Sector at Cohere. "Our technology will help the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project to meet stringent demands for precision, security, and streamlined operations, while reducing cognitive load."
By bringing together TKMS’s proven submarine engineering expertise with Cohere’s leading enterprise AI technology, the Teaming Agreement represents a significant step toward delivering next-generation digital capabilities tailored to the needs of Canada’s maritime forces. It also reinforces TKMS’s commitment to integrating Canadian companies into its supply chain throughout the entire life cycle of its platforms, underlining its belief that “submarine building is nation building.”
About us
TKMS is one of the world’s leading naval companies with over 9,100 employees (including temporary workers) at three shipyards in Kiel, Wismar and Itajaí (Brazil) with locations worldwide. The company is active as a systems supplier for submarines and naval surface vessels as well as for maritime electronics and security technologies. Around 3,300 people work at the Kiel site, making it the largest shipyard location in Germany. 185 years of history and the constant striving for improvement allow the company to set new standards time and time again. TKMS offers its customers worldwide tailored solutions to meet the highly complex challenges of a changing world. The driving forces behind this innovative energy are the company’s employees, who shape the future of TKMS with passion and commitment every day.
More information at: www.tkmsgroup.com
About Cohere
Cohere is the leading security-first enterprise AI company, co-headquartered in Toronto and San Francisco, with additional offices in London, New York, Montreal, Paris, and Seoul. It builds cutting-edge foundation models and endto-end AI products designed to solve real-world business problems. Cohere partners closely with companies to deliver seamless integration, full customization, and easy-to-use solutions for their workforce and customers. The all-in-one platform offers enterprises the highest levels of security, data privacy and optionality to deploy across all major cloud providers, private cloud environments, or on-premises.
More information at: www.cohere.com
Noah Note: TKMS’s second partnership is one that I didn't expect. Going after AI integration is a bold choice to make, but not one without merit. The Canadian government has committed over a billion dollars as part of Budget 2025 to AI development. It is one of the technology fields that, historically, Canada has been a major player in and wants to try and remain on top of.
It's very much a golden child of the Carney government, and on top of that is Cohere. Cohere has almost been given the mandate of heaven by the federal government to keep Canada on top in the LLM space.
They signed an MOU with the federal government in August of last year for the integration of the company’s AI models into the federal service. They also signed an agreement with Thales last month to integrate AI technologies into the wider Naval In-Service Support program.
For Cohere, the chance to break into defence is significant, and they have been given the chance to fly away on it. For TKMS, who was already very committed to integrating Al technology onto the 212CD, this provides a natural, Canadian partnership that provides them with good rep to the people in the federal government who want Cohere to succeed.
There's also a lot of outside potential for this partnership to develop beyond CPSP, especially since, as far as I know, TKMS doesn't maintain similar relations with other Al developers. That is something the federal government is very interested in.
High-technology, Canadian-controlled IP being integrated onto these subs, with immense export potential, is exactly what the Canadian government wants for CPSP. So yeah, I can see where this partnership comes into play and why they're jumping quick on this.
For the Royal Canadian Navy, Al is also something that they seem very interested in, not only from an automation perspective but as an information tool. Although I can't say how interested they would be in something like this, I imagine it will pique some interest, so that's a bonus.
Wonder how this falls into the 212CD design and how it would apply to XLUUVs and UUVs as companions for the 212CD. Interesting times.
This is some incredibly vague word salad to say we are going to look at stuff
“the companies will assess opportunities to apply state-of-the-art language and data-driven models to support decision-support workflows, onboard information management, training environments, and secure naval interfaces”