MADEX 2025: South Korea conducts basin trials of supercavitating underwater vehicle

ADD's supercavitating test vehicle on display at MADEX 2025. (Janes/Ridzwan Rahmat)

South Korea's Agency for Defense Development (ADD) has begun basin trials for a supercavitating underwater test vehicle that paves the way for the country to develop a high-velocity torpedo that is more difficult to intercept.

Speaking to Janes at MADEX 2025 in Busan, Seong Hong Kim, a senior researcher at ADD, said tests are being carried out to validate the underwater vehicle's ability to sail in a straight line while generating a supercavity.

The vehicle in question is a torpedo-shaped tube that has a length of 3 m and a diameter of 300 mm. Its supercavity is generated via an adjustable nose section, which forms a bubble that envelopes the vehicle beyond its aft while it is travelling through the water.

As part of the validation, the actuators of the vehicle's primary control surfaces, which comprise a cross-form rudder, are being monitored to ensure that they are performing according to design when the vehicle reaches a speed of up to 130 kt.

Thus far, basin trials of the vehicle have been carried out over several months since January, with the latest test taking place in April.

The basin trials are scheduled to complete in September and data gathered from this series of tests will be used to design the next phase of trials, which will be carried out at sea.

These trials will then see the vehicle travel at speeds of up to 200 kt, which is multiple times the speed of conventional torpedoes.