The South Korean Navy received its first-ever locally-built 3,000-ton class submarine on Friday.
Equipped with six vertical launching tubes, the Dosan Ahn Changho-class craft is capable of firing submarine-to-ground ballistic missiles. It comes in at a length of 83.5 meters and a width of 9.6 meters, enough to carry 50 crew members.
According to navy officials, 76 percent of the vehicle’s components are made in Korea. They also said the new submarine can operate underwater for 20 days without surfacing.
Project Head Supervisor Jeon Yong-Gyu remarked that the delivery of South Korea’s first homemade 3,000-ton submarine is a “breakthrough” for the country.
South Korea plans to conduct a year-long evaluation of the new submarine before deploying it in August 2022. The country currently operates 1,200-ton and 1,800-ton submarines.
Vessel Details
The Dosan Ahn Changho-class submarine has a maximum submerged speed of 20 knots (37 kilometers per hour) and can travel up to 10,000 nautical miles (18,520 kilometers). The vehicle is also fitted with eight 533-mm torpedo tubes to accommodate future cruise missiles.
The submarine has a numerical autopilot that allows operation and control in automatic, manual, and mixed modes. It is also equipped with active sonar and flank array sonar for the detection and classification of targets.
In addition to sonar, the vehicle has a combat management system for armament assignment, target detection, tracking, and engagement.
Hyundai Heavy Industries and DSME corporations took care of the submarine’s basic design with the help of several local firms.
Information about the development of the Dosan Ahn Changho-class submarine comes as North Korea is also believed to have finished constructing a 3,000-ton submarine.