DSME joins hands with Navy for building combined combat systems

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) said on Wednesday that it had held the first meeting with the Republic of Korea Navy the previous day for a technical support research project for the concept design of an unmanned submersible for combat purposes.

The shipbuilder is currently promoting the development of an unmanned submersible model for the Navy's marine manned/unmanned system Navy Sea Ghost in partnership with Hanwha Systems Co., Hanwha Aerospace Co., and Bumhan Fuel Cell.

The Navy is building Navy Sea Ghost in connection with Defense Innovation 4.0 and is focusing on securing unmanned forces such as the unmanned surface vehicle (USV), unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) mounted on naval ships.

Starting with the development of OKPO-6000, Korea's first unmanned submersible in 1996, DSME built Jang Bogo-I and Jang Bogo-II class submarines in subsequent years. In August last year, the company successfully delivered its Dosan Ahn Changho, a Jang Bogo-III class submarine, to the Navy.

"We will mobilize all our next-generation shipbuilding capabilities so that the Republic of Korea Navy can gain an edge in the contest for military supremacy at sea in the future battlefield," said Jeong Woo-seong, executive director of DSME's special vessel headquarters.

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com