The Republic of Korea Navy (RoKN) commissioned its first domestically manufactured submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) diesel-electric attack submarine at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Ocean Engineering (DSME) facility on August 13.
Locks Dosan An Changho It is the first batch of nine KSS-III SSK fleets planned to enter the RoKN fleet by 2029, and the construction will be carried out in three batches. Each batch will include three ships, and subsequent submarines will use more advanced technology.
The ship is 83.5 m long and has a displacement of 3,705 tons when submerged. The ship is equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell-based air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, which can extend the endurance, with a maximum specified speed of 20 knots and a cruising range of 10,000 nautical miles.
Each batch of Series 1 KSS-III submarines are equipped with a six-unit vertical launch system (VLS), which can deploy Tianlong (Eagle) ground attack missiles. These submarines are also equipped with 8 533 mm torpedo tubes, which can be equipped with weapons such as the locally developed Baek Sang Eo (white shark) heavy torpedo.
The second batch of ships is expected to be longer, with a displacement of up to 4,000 tons, while increasing the number of VLS batteries from 6 to 10. These are also expected to increase local content and lithium-ion batteries to increase range and endurance.
Compared with the 1,800-ton KSS-II class submarine currently in service in South Korea, the new boat is 18 m long and 3 m wide, making it the largest submarine in its fleet. Local media reported in July that after the country tested a locally developed SLBM (which is believed to be a variant of the Hyeonmu-2B missile launched on the ground) on an underwater barge, it was put into use.
RoKN said in a statement Dosan An Changho A series of operational performance and capability assessments will be conducted, and it is expected to start operations in August 2022.
The second and third KSS-III Batch 1 ships, the future ROKS Ahn Moo and ROKS Yi Dong-nyeong, It is expected to be handed over to South Korea in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
SLBM will be equipped with conventional warheads and is expected to be deployed with submarines of 3,000 tons or more, such as the KSS-III (also known as KSS-3) submarine. South Korea is already building the second and third submarines of the first batch of KSS-III, and it is expected to build 6 more submarines of this class (3 in each batch).
South Korean officials also raised the prospect of domestically produced nuclear-powered submarines, especially after North Korea announced in January that it had completed the design of such submarines.
Xiao Wu
