HD Hyundai Heavy Industries unveils homegrown sea vessels

South Korea's HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. (HHI), the shipbuilding affiliate of HD Hyundai Co., on Sunday said it will unveil its next-generation vessels under development at the International Maritime Defense Industry Exhibition (MADEX) in Busan, an event that runs from Wednesday through Friday.

The company's KDDX destroyer is the nation's first to adopt a large-capacity and high-output integrated electric propulsion system. It was designed as an expandable platform to allow additional installation of futuristic weapons systems according to technological advances.

In addition, HHI's concept model of an unmanned power command and control ship, domestically developed aircraft carrier and offshore patrol vessel (OPV) will make their debuts at MADEX.

The command and control ship is capable of unmanned reconnaissance missions at sea, underwater and in the air using unmanned aerial, surface and underwater vehicles.

In 2020, HHI completed conceptual research on development of a light carrier to expand the vessel's length, width and size to enable the method Catapult-Assisted Takeoff But Arrested Recovery, aka CATOBAR, instead of vertical takeoff and landing.

"By preemptively proposing a concept model for an unmanned power command and control ship, we will help set the direction of the Republic of Korea Navy's project to build a complex manned and unmanned system," an HD Hyundai Heavy Industries source said. "We will actively promote our upgraded OPV model to lead ship exports."

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com