South Korea Launches New Type 214

South Korea launched its third Type 214 submarine last week. While it is often noted the quantity of naval growth taking place in China and India, we continue to observe both growth and quality in the naval forces being produced by South Korea. The addition of Type 214s to the naval mix by South Korea is not a small thing, while not often discussed, the quality of ASW capabilities by North Korea have dropped considerably over the last decade (if not longer) due to cost issues, training, and lack of technologies, meaning modern submarines are essentially an unstoppable force from the perspective of North Korea.

We enjoyed this write-up by the Korea Times.

The Navy launched its third 1,800-ton, class Type-214, submarine armed with high-tech missiles and sensor systems Wednesday in an effort to strengthen its blue-water capability.

The diesel-electric submarine, built by Hyundai Heavy Industries under technical cooperation with Germany's Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW), is expected to play a key role in sea denial to North Korean and other hostile forces and anti-submarine warfare, a Navy spokesman said.

This latest submarine was named after Ahn Jung-geun, a renowned Korean independence fighter who assassinated Japan's first Resident General Ito Hirobumi in 1909 in an attempt to frustrate Japan's annexation of Korea.

The Type-214 subs are also expected to be a core part of the soon-to-be-created ``strategic mobile squadron,'' involving Aegis-equipped destroyers, state-of-the-art submarines, anti-submarine aircraft and advanced frigates, which can be deployed in a conflict situation, he said.

The Navy plans to create a submarine command by 2018. To that end, the Navy will launch six more Type-214 submarines by 2018 and build indigenous 3,000-ton class submarines beginning in 2018.

There are some questions raised in the South Korean media regarding the Son Won-Il class program. One press report claimed that the second Type 214 was particularly loud, although the South Korean Navy blasted that claim as false. Some sources suggest the status of building the remaining 6 planned Son Won-Il class submarines remains in doubt, and will be decided in the future.

With the rapid expansion of the Chinese submarine force, more submarines will almost certainly be built by South Korea in the near future. Japan has long operated a force of 14 submarines, with an annual production rate of 1, creating a situation where all submarines in operation are never more than 15 years old. Japan is seen as a rival to South Korea, so the production of 9 Type 214s is more likely than not.

Additional Notes: Check out the video at the bottom of this article. The "heart effect" around the submarine... cute.