In service with the Republic of Korea Army, Hyundai Rotem's K2 main battle tank, pictured above, is replacing ageing inventories of M48 Patton tanks and older models of the K1 MBT. (Janes/Kelvin Wong)

South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has approved the mass production of a fourth batch of the Hyundai Rotem K2 main battle tank (MBT) for the Republic of Korea Army (RoKA).

DAPA said on 25 May that the project to build the batch-four MBTs has been allocated KRW1.94 trillion (USD1.46 billion) between 2024 and 2028. It said the additional K2s will contribute to the “improvement of the mobile corps' ability to perform offensive manoeuvres”.

DAPA did not disclose how many K2s would be built in the new batch.

According to Janes Land Warfare Platforms: Armoured Fighting Vehicles, the K2 is a third-generation MBT designed to provide the RoKA with modern heavy-armour capability.

The MBT is operated by a crew of three and has a length of 10.8 m and a width of 3.6 m. It weighs 56 tonnes and has a maximum onroad speed of 70 km/h.

Electric Boat awarded Newport News Shipbuilding a contract modification for Block V attack submarines. (Newport News Shipbuilding)

General Dynamics Electric Boat awarded HII's Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) unit a USD305.2 million contract modification to procure long-lead-time material for two additional Block V Virginia-class submarines, HII confirmed on 24 May.

The contract modification brings the overall contract value to USD10.2 billion, HII said.

“These funds are critically important to stabilising and providing predictability to the thousands of suppliers across the country,” said Jason Ward, NNS vice-president of Virginia-class submarine construction. “The submarine industrial base is crucial.”

That base has become a bit unstable recently in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic-related effects, inflation, and supply issues. Officials at HII's NNS division said they are taking measures to stabilise their US nuclear submarine and aircraft construction programmes.

“It's a complex problem,” Ward said on 5 May at the company's Virginia shipyard in an interview before the 6 May christening of the Block IV Virginia-class attack submarine Massachusetts (SSN 798).

“The Virginia-class cadence has not executed [as planned],” Ward said. “We are working to stabilise and accelerate [construction].”

Virgin Orbit's Boeing 747-400 carrier aircraft releases its LauncherOne rocket during a 2019 test. (Virgin Orbit)

Financially troubled Virgin Orbit plans to sell its assets to four winning bidders and cease operations, the US-based small satellite launch provider announced on 23 May.

Among the auction winners is Stratolaunch, which has agreed to pay USD17 million for Virgin Orbit's carrier aircraft, a modified Boeing 747-400 nicknamed ‘Cosmic Girl', according to a court filing. While Virgin Orbit has used Cosmic Girl to fire the LauncherOne rocket, which is designed to place satellites into orbit, Stratolaunch said in a statement that it intends to use the plane to test hypersonic payloads instead. “We can provide further comments” after the transaction closes, the buyer added.

Another successful bidder is space company Rocket Lab, which will obtain Virgin Orbit's 144,000 sq ft (13,378 m ² ) headquarters and rocket factory in Long Beach, California, for USD16.1 million. Rocket Lab said in a statement that it will use the leased facility to accelerate production of its new, larger Neutron launch vehicle, which is intended to complement its existing Electron small satellite launcher.