South Korean Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Jura said:

in case you didn't know
Japan launches first lithium-ion battery powered submarine JS Oryu

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South Korea says it has developed lithium-ion batteries that can double the operational hours of submarines compared to those with lead-acid batteries.

The lithium-ion batteries were created for the country’s

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, expected to launch in the mid-2020s, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, or DAPA.

Following 30 months of development, the batteries passed a technology readiness assessment, a step toward integration on a weapons platform, the agency said in a news release.

“Development of lithium-ion batteries for submarines is a great achievement in the global submarine market,” said Rear Adm. Jung Il-shik of the DAPA’s next-generation submarine project group. “We expect this successful development of lithium-ion batteries to raise South Korea’s reputation as a submarine maker, as well as to have a great ripple effect through the commercial sectors.”

Samsung SDI, the world’s largest supplier of lithium-ion batteries, including ones for cellphones, manufactured the battery module to be mounted on the second batch of three KSS-III submarines. Hanwha Land Systems is responsible for integrating the modules and other parts on the submarine, which is built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

The first of the three locally designed KSS-III Batch I diesel-electric submarines was launched in September, and two more hulls are expected to be under construction until 2024. According to the DAPA, the KSS-III class is 83.5 meters long and has a beam of 9.6 meters. It has a displacement of 3,358 tons when surfaced, and 3,705 tons when submerged.

The boat is known to be equipped with six vertical launch system tubes and able to accommodate a locally developed cruise missile. It can sail at a maximum speed of 20 knots with a cruising range of 10,000 nautical meters, DAPA officials said.

With a slight redesign and some system upgrades, the Batch II subs are expected to have improved capabilities in attacking strategic land-based targets and performing anti-submarine warfare, the officials said.

The Korean developers prioritized the safety and reliability of the lithium-ion batteries, which were once considered expensive and too unstable for submarines, another DAPA source with the submarine project group told Defense News.

“It’s no doubt that South Korean companies have the world’s best technology of lithium-ion batteries, but if an accident happened like an explosion, such technology is to be meaningless,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the secrecy of the development project. “So we’re really focused on safety and reliability rather than performances. We even lowered the level of performances to an extent on purpose to ensure higher and better safety standards.”

To that end, the new batteries have undergone tests simulating harsh conditions, such as an explosion, seawater, fire and extreme temperatures, he noted.

“The Korean lithium-ion batteries still would be better than those of competitors,” he asserted, referring to Japan’s recent integration of lithium-ion batteries into its Soryu-class diesel-electric attack submarine.

The 84-meter-long boat for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force was launched Oct. 4, with an operational data set for 2020. GS Yuasa, a Kyoto-based battery manufacturer, developed the lithium-ion batteries for the Soryu-class sub.

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South Korea endorsed the acquisition of dozens of Standard Missile-2 interceptors worth 340 billion won ($304 million) through a U.S. foreign military sales program for the defense of three new Aegis destroyers, which will be delivered from 2023.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), a state body in charge of procuring military equipment, said Friday that the acquisition of SM-2 interceptors produced by Raytheon was approved in a meeting chaired by Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo.

The SM-2 family was developed to provide air and cruise missile defense as part of the Aegis combat system on U.S. Navy ships. They are designed to engage high-speed, high-altitude anti-ship cruise missiles with midcourse guidance and radar support.

On its website, Raytheon said that due to global demand, it would restart its SM-2 missile line after halting production in 2013. "Australia, Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands aligned requirements and pooled resources to make a bundle purchase through foreign military sales, enabling Raytheon to resume production."

In May 2016, Hyundai Heavy Industries was selected for the KDX-III Batch II program which calls for the construction of three Aegis destroyers to be delivered from 2023. The Batch II program aimed at coping better with North Korean missile and submarine threats requires more electrical power, a high level of automation and an improved combat system capable of detecting and tracking targets at greater distances and with more precision.

South Korea operates three Sejong the Great-class Aegis destroyers armed with Hyunmoo-3C cruise missiles with a range of up to 1,000 kilometers. Seoul is developing Hyunmoo-4 missiles with a payload of more than two tons after U.S. President Donald Trump allowed Seoul to deploy missiles capable of flying for up to 800 km with no limit in its payload.

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Jura said:

Oct 5, 2018

related:
New battery can double the operational time of submarines, says South Korea

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Update: KAI rolls out Light Attack Helicopter for South Korea
Gareth Jennings, London - Jane's Defence Weekly
19 December 2018
Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) has rolled out the Light Attack Helicopter (LAH) it has developed for the Republic of Korea Army (RoKA).

The Light Attack Helicopter was rolled-out by KAI on 18 December. The helicopter has been developed for the Republic of Korea Army in partnership with Airbus Helicopters. (KAI)

The roll-out ceremony occurred on 18 December.

The LAH has been developed around the Airbus Helicopters H155 (formerly the EC155 B1) twin-engined platform. A main feature of the LAH is the turreted 20 mm cannon under its nose. It also features rocket pods mounted on stub wings, as well as a nose-mounted electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor, fuselage- and tail-mounted missile warning receivers, and upwards-directed exhausts for a reduced IR signature.

The RoKA has a programme of 214 LAH helicopters.

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gelgoog said:

South Korea has one of the largest lithium ion battery manufacturers in LG Chem. So it should be relatively easy for them to use those in a submarine providing a proper battery pack is designed for it. I think this solution is more viable than the AIP systems presently available which are either too noisy or low power.

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Jura said:

Oct 5, 2018

related:
New battery can double the operational time of submarines, says South Korea

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South Korea has completed the preliminary design phase of a new, indigenously designed and built, 3,000 ton submarine for the Republic of Korea Navy, the country’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said on Wednesday.

The design was lead by South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. under a contract from July 2016.

According to DAPA, the new submarine will feature 80 percent of indigenous content and is expected to start construction in the second half of 2019.

Compared to the ROK Navy’s newest KSS-III submarines,

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, the next generation submarine will have increased range, and improved sonar and combat systems performance.

While the nine planned KSS-III submarines will feature air-independent propulsion, the new submarine will additionally benefit from a locally developed lithium-ion battery system. Compared to the commonly used lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries store considerably more power and take up less space. The incorporation of lithium-ion into modern submarines is a relatively new trend with Japan being the first to launch a launches first

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.

The next-generation ROK Navy submarine is yet to be named and no time frame for its delivery has been given.

DAPA noted that over the span of the country’s submarine acquisition process, the percent of local content in the submarines has been constantly increasing. Dosan Ahn Chang-ho (SS-083), the first KSS-III submarine, has 76 percent local content while the next-generation submarine is slated to feature 80 percent of local content.

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South Korea and the United States struck a new deal Sunday that increases Seoul's contribution for the cost of the American military presence on its soil, overcoming previous failed negotiations that caused worries about their decades-long alliance.

South Korea last year provided about $830 million, covering roughly 40 percent of the cost of the deployment of 28,500 U.S. soldiers whose presence is meant to deter aggression from North Korea. President Donald Trump has pushed for South Korea to pay more.

On Sunday, chief negotiators from the two countries signed a new cost-sharing plan, which requires South Korea to pay about 1.04 trillion won ($924 million) in 2019, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement said the two countries reaffirmed the need for a "stable" U.S. military deployment amid the "rapidly changing situation on the Korean Peninsula." The ministry said the U.S. assured South Korea that it is committed to the alliance and has no plans to adjust the number of its troops in South Korea.

South Korea began paying for the U.S. military deployment in the early 1990s, after rebuilding its economy from the devastation of the 1950-1953 Korean War. The big U.S. military presence in South Korea is a symbol of the countries' alliance, forged in blood during the war, but also a source of long-running anti-American sentiments.

About 20 anti-U.S. activists rallied near the Foreign Ministry building in Seoul on Sunday, chanting slogans like "No more money for U.S. troops." No violence was reported.

"The United States government realizes that Korea does a lot for our alliance and peace and stability in the region," chief U.S. negotiator Timothy Betts said Sunday in Seoul. "We are very pleased our consultations resulted in agreement that will strengthen transparency and deepen our cooperation and the alliance."

The deal, which involves the spending of South Korean taxpayer money, requires parliamentary approval in South Korea, but not in the United States, according to Seoul's Foreign Ministry.

The allies had failed to reach a new cost-sharing plan during some 10 rounds of talks. A five-year 2014 deal that covered South Korea's payment last year expired at the end of 2018.

Some conservatives in South Korea voiced concerns over a weakening alliance with the United States at the same time as negotiations with North Korea to deprive it of its nuclear weapons hit a stalemate. They said Trump might use the failed military cost-sharing negotiations as an excuse to pull back some U.S. troops in South Korea as a bargaining chip in talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Feb. 3 that he has no plans to withdraw troops from South Korea. During his election campaign, Trump suggested he could pull back troops from South Korea and Japan unless they took on greater a share of the financial burdens of supporting U.S. soldiers deployed there.

South Korean media earlier reported that Trump demanded South Korea double its spending for the U.S. military deployment, before his government eventually asked for 1.13 trillion won ($1 billion). Seoul's Foreign Ministry said the U.S. had called for a sharp increase in South Korean spending but didn't elaborate.

Trump announced last week that he will sit down with Kim for a second summit in Vietnam in late February. Their first summit in Singapore last June resulted in Kim's vague commitment to the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," a term that his propaganda machine previously used when it argued it would only denuclearize after the U.S. withdraws its troops from South Korea.

Trump's top envoy for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, visited Pyongyang last week to work out details of the upcoming summit. After being briefed by Biegun about his Pyongyang trip, South Korea's presidential office said Sunday that U.S. and North Korean officials plan to meet again the week of Feb. 17 in an unidentified Asian country.

The U.S. military arrived in South Korea to disarm Japan, which colonized the Korean Peninsula from 1910-45, following its World War II defeat. Most U.S. troops were withdrawn in 1949 but they returned the next year to fight alongside South Korea in the Korean War.

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