Naval Acoustic Information Management System or shortly NAIMS was first developed in mid 2000’s by South Korea’s Hanwha Defense. In 2009, the first version of the system was put into use along with IOEAS (Integrated Ocean Environment Analysis System).
NAIMS system is a Korean equivalent to the SOSUS system. Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) was the original name for a submarine detection system based on passive sonar developed during the Cold War by the United States Navy to track Soviet submarines. NAIMS is capable of collecting, analyzing, managing, and disseminating ship’s sound information and maritime environmental data. It was first created to systemically support and manage acoustic information that is essential for ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) operations, mainly to detect suspicious submarine movements from the neighboring North Korea and China.
Through the NAIMS system, ROK Navy’s warships and even patrol aircraft can simultaneously obtain information about the targeted submarine and precisely track them down.
However, as North Korea and China have majorly evolved in terms of submarine technology over the past decade (especially North with their use of SLBM’s), the need for the new and advanced NAIMS system was brought up as an imminent agenda.
NAIMS-II will feature various advantages over its predecessor, such as the application of networked UUV (Unmanned Underwater Vehicles) and associated sensors to ROK Navy’s ASW, MCM (Mine Countermeasures) and ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) missions to better suit and deal with North Korea’s constant threats over the surrounding seas.
NAIMS-II program was officially launched on October 6th, 2023 and currently stays at the preliminary research phase for the time being. LIG Nex1 has been chosen to develop the new system, along with South Korea’s ADD (Agency for Defense Development).
NAIMS-II is expected to take 5 years to develop once the contract has been awarded, and its expected EIS (Entry into Service) will be in the early 2030s at the earliest. However, as South Korea has accumulated a vast amount of data regarding tactical acoustic simulations and warfare effectiveness studies and their optimization, the development of NAIMS-II could take less time than expected, as experts have claimed.
Once NAIMS-II has finished developing, it is expected to boost ROK Navy’s ability on detecting and tracking down North Korea and China’s hostile maritime movements against Seoul.
