The ROK Navy has placed great emphasis on building up its unmanned force this year, announcing the creation of a new unmanned fleet in October and revealing the “Navy Sea GHOST” concept the following month.
The Navy Sea GHOST concept aims to integrate unmanned systems into the ROK Navy’s combat structure. DSME is hoping to provide the combat UUV that was outlined in the concept, with the shipbuilder and the ROK Navy holding a conference on the 27th to discuss preliminary design and research for the program.
“DSME will utilize all of its next-generation state-of-the-art technology so that the ROK Navy can secure naval supremacy in the future combat environment.”
Jung Woo Sung, Director of DSME’s Special Ship Division
In addition to this, the company is cooperating with Hanwha Group in designing the new system. The conglomerate recently acquired DSME in a deal worth 2 trillion Korean won (over $ 1.5 billion). Hanwha System and Hanwha Aerospace are just a few of the subsidiaries the shipbuilder is working together with. The former, in particular, has experience designing advanced UUVs already, having jointly developed the anti-submarine warfare unmanned underwater vehicle (ASWUUV) with the defense acquisition program administration. The ASWUUV was first tested in July this year.
The shipbuilder is also partnering with Bumhan Fuel Cell. It is likely that cooperation between the two companies concerns the power source for the future platform. Given, Bumhan’s area of expertise, this future power source is likely to be hydrogen-based. The firm displayed its hydrogen fuel cell technology at DX 2022 in September this year, emphasizing the fact that it could be used for the ROK Navy’s future UUVs.
