Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) submarine Dosan Ahn Changho has travelled to a naval base in British Columbia as part of South Korea’s drive for selection to build new Canadian submarines.
South Korean defence prime Hanwha Ocean — alongside German firm TKMS — is one of two firms which have been shortlisted for the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP).
Under the CPSP timeline the first of up to 12 new submarines is expected to be delivered to the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) by 2035 at the latest.
Hanwha Ocean’s offering for the CPSP is its 3,000-ton KSS-III submarine, which uses air-independent propulsion (AIP) and lithium-ion batteries to give it a three-week endurance and a range of up to 7,000 nautical miles.
As part of the South Korean campaign for CPSP selection ROKN KSS-III submarine Dosan Ahn Changho has sailed to Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Esquimalt, just outside of Victoria, British Columbia.
The boat began its two-month, 7,600-nautical-mile voyage from Jinhae Naval Base in South Korea to Canada at the end of March, stopping in Guam and also in Hawaii, where two RCN submariners joined the ROKN crew.
While in Canada, the submarine and her accompanying Daegu-class frigate ROKS Daejeon will participate in joint exercises with the RCN.
Hanwha Ocean builds the KSS-III submarines at its shipyard in Geoje, South Korea. In a press statement it noted: “It is proven, in-service and fully meets and exceeds all of the requirements of the RCN for CPSP.
“These include superior underwater surveillance capability and deployability in the Arctic with extended range and endurance that will provide stealth, persistence and lethality to ensure that Canada can detect, track, deter and, if necessary, defeat adversaries in all three of its oceans.”
Canada’s new boats will replace the RCN’s four ageing Victoria-class submarines, which were acquired from the Royal Navy towards the end of the 1990s. Three came into active service in the mid-2000s; the fourth in 2015.
Hanwha Ocean has said it can deliver four KSS-III submarines to fully replace Canada’s current Victoria Class fleet before 2035 if on contract in 2026, noting earlier retirement of the Victoria Class fleet will save about $1 billion in maintenance bills.
TKMS is offering its Type 212CD platform developed for the German and Norwegian navies; the shipbuilder is already building six submarines for each of these two nations.
The diesel-electric boats are 73m long, displace 2,800 tonnes fully submerged and feature an air independent propulsion (AIP) system using lithium batteries charged by two diesel engines. They are capable of speeds in excess of 20 knots and have an endurance of about 41 days.
This week German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius gave an interview suggesting TKMS could also deliver four Type 212 CD submarines to the RCN by 2036.
Under this proposal Norway and Germany would each cede one allocated Type 212CD delivery slot, so that these could be delivered to Canada.
- You can read more details about the South Korean submarine visit on the Hanwha website