Development of 3000 ton Submarine
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration will begin to develop one of the most advanced submarines for the Korean Navy. The shipbuilder announced on July 19 that they struck a main deal with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration on the exploratory development of a 3000 ton-level submarine Jang Bogo-3 (Batch-II).
Exploratory development means carrying out the basic design of a new ship. This work belongs to an early design stage that determines a vessel’s detailed specifications and materials. DSME will work on the basic design of the Jang Bogo-3 Submarine by the end of 2018.
This project amounts to about 70.5 billion won. The Jangbogo-3 is the first submarine to be designed and built through Korea’s own technology. It is quite meaning in the history of the Korean military for Korea to develop a mid-sized submarine that can play a key role in enhancing Korea’s naval power. DSME is already building two submarines by receiving the first Jang Bogo project (Batch-I) valued at about 1.7 trillion in 2012. The winning of the second project exemplifies that the shipbuilder has unrivaled competitiveness in the submarine sector.
In particular, underwater operational, detection capabilities and armament to be applied in the second project are expected to help DSME increase its order-winning competitiveness in the future.