Hanwha Ocean to develop submarine technology to evade detection

South Korea's Hanwha Ocean Co. has consecutively secured contracts for naval technology-related vessel research projects. The company recently announced a contract with the Korea Research Institute for Defense Technology Planning and Advancement (KRIT) for the "Research and Development of Design Technology for New-type Demagnetizing Equipment for Submarines."

Demagnetizing equipment reduces the magnetic field generated by submarines to avoid detection by adversaries. Under the latest contract, Hanwha Ocean will conduct research until May 2028 and produce prototypes for performance validation.

In particular, Hanwha Ocean plans to enhance the stealth capabilities of its own submarines by developing demagnetizing coils, control units, power supply units and magnetic sensor design technology.

Hanwha Ocean was selected as the preferred negotiator for the "Unmanned Submersible Energy Source System" project, which is part of the National Defense Research Institute's inaugural project, last month. This project involves the development of a hydrogen fuel cell system for application in a multi-purpose modular unmanned submersible.

The company is the only South Korean entity that has built submarines for the country's Navy since 1987, including the Jangbogo-I (9 units), Jangbogo-II (3 units), and the new 3,000-ton-class Jangbogo-III (4 units).

The company has also developed a medium-sized submarine of over 3,000 tons, the eighth country to do so following the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, India, Russia and China. Additionally, as the first domestic company, it exported six submarines to Indonesia.

"We are considering entering the global maritime defense market, centered around the United States and Europe, leveraging our leading defense technology capabilities for technological innovation and development," said a company official.

Write to Mi-Sun Kang at misunny@hankyung.com