MADEX 2023: Hanwha Ocean sweetens Philippine Navy submarine offer with KSS-III systems

A model of Hanwha Ocean's 1400-class submarine, which is the basis for the proposal sent to the Philippine Navy, on display at MADEX 2023. (Janes/Ridzwan Rahmat)

Hanwha Ocean has upped the ante in its bid to supply the Philippine Navy with two diesel-electric submarines by offering selected combat systems found on South Korea's Dosan An Chang-ho(KSS-III)-class boats.

These include combat systems that will be exported from South Korea for the first time such as the LIG Nex1-supplied hull sonar found on the KSS-III submarine, the details of which are classified.

The matter was disclosed by a Hanwha Ocean representative who spoke to Janes at the MADEX 2023 exhibition in Busan, which is taking place from 7 to 9 June.

The company is positioning a derivative of its Hanwha Ocean 1400 (previously known as the DSME 1400) for the Philippine Navy's requirement of two boats.

The offer was sweetened as the company was informed that the budget to procure submarines has now been increased from PHP70 billion (USD1.24 billion) to PHP97 billion.

“With this increased budget, we are now able to offer the Philippine Navy a solution that is more capable when compared to [that of] our competitor,” a representative from Hanwha Ocean's overseas marketing team said.

Besides combat systems, another KSS-III component being offered to the Philippine Navy is a non-air independent propulsion (AIP) variant of the Dosan An Chang-ho class' engines, which are more fuel efficient and less onerous to maintain, the representative said.