South Korea Offers Submarines to Canada, Philippines and Poland

The impact of sanctions against Russia and the war in Ukraine has more or less changed the map in global arms sales. Russia, which has been the second largest arms exporter after the United States, is now threatened by France, whose arms export market has been selling well recently.

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The aftermath of changes in the global arms export map has encouraged South Korea to prepare to become a top four player in the world arms sales market. 

Quoted from Reuters.com (18/10/2023), an official from the South Korean defense company, Hanwha Ocean, at the 2023 Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX), said that the country was trying to become one of the four defense exporters world's largest.

Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering/DSME), which prioritizes submarine products, especially after selling three submarines to Indonesia, is now making an offer to make submarines to Canada, the Philippines and Poland.

“Canada is currently studying potential new submarine builders and has expressed interest in our solutions among other foreign competitors,” said Kim Seung-min, Hanwha Ocean Naval and Special Ship Overseas Marketing Team, in an interview with Reuters, without naming the competitors. .

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has vowed to step up efforts to increase arms exports and secure cutting-edge defense technology as he aims to build the industry into one of the world's four largest exporters.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), currently the four largest arms exporters in the world are the United States, Russia, France and China,

Hanwha Ocean is a leading South Korean defense contractor that has built submarines for the South Korean and Indonesian navies.

Hanwha Ocean this year responded to questions from Poland about South Korea's submarine-building capabilities, after registering its interest in the European country's tender to build around three submarines. In 2022, South Korea signed a $13.7 billion arms sales agreement with Poland, known as the country's largest arms sale in history.

With the support of banks that will offer soft loans, Hanwha Ocean is also offering diesel-electric submarines to the Philippines, which wants to acquire two submarines weighing more than 2,000 tons.

The increasing tension between the Philippines and China over the border issue seems to be an opportunity to market South Korean weapons, after the Philippines had previously purchased light fighter jets and frigates from South Korea.

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Kim said his company has proposed to supply Philippine submarines with lithium ion battery technology, which allows submarines to stay underwater longer compared to using lead acid batteries. For this, Hanwha Ocean claims to have a superior solution compared to French and Spanish submarines.