Source: Yangguang Military
According to reports, south Korea's first 3,000-ton conventional ballistic missile submarine "Shimayama Anchanghao" recently entered service, thus becoming the eighth country in the world that can independently develop 3,000-ton submarines. So, how is the performance of the "Island Mountain Anchanghao" submarine? What kind of improvement will the combat effectiveness of the ROK Navy be brought about by entering the military? On related topics, Wang Bing, a reporter from the Central Broadcasting Corporation of the People's Republic of China, interviewed Yin Zhuo, a military observer.
Data map: "Shimayama Anchanghao" submarine (Xinhuanet)
According to the report, the "Island Mountain Anchanghao" submarine is the first boat of South Korea's "Jang Baogao-III." class submarine, with a total length of 83.5 meters and a width of 9.6 meters, mainly relying on South Korea's domestic technology design and construction. Military observer Yin Zhuo analyzed that South Korea's submarine not only has a good mute effect, but also can carry ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, which is a large conventional submarine with strong comprehensive combat capabilities.
Yin Zhuo:
As a conventional submarine, the "Shimayama Anchanghao" is mainly powered by diesel electricity. It is equipped with an AIP system (does not rely on aerodynamics), which can dive underwater for a long time, the submarine flight cycle is about 21 days, and its mute effect is also good. At the same time, the "Island Mountain Anchanghao" is also a large conventional submarine. The so-called large conventional submarines are submarines with a displacement of more than 3,000 tons. According to media reports, the displacement of the "Shimayama Anchanghao" submarine is about 3300 tons. In addition, it can carry vertically launched ballistic missiles or cruise missiles. However, one thing to point out is that the localization rate of the "Shimayama Anchanghao" is only about 70%, and more than 20% of the key technologies are imported from abroad. However, in general, the "Shimayama Anchanghao" is a high-performance conventional submarine with strong comprehensive combat capability.
Data map: "Xuanwu-2B" ballistic missile (Global Times)
According to the report, the "Shimayama Anchanghao" submarine is expected to be deployed in actual combat around August next year after a year of training. Military observer Yin Zhuo believes that after the submarine is deployed in service, it will further expand the combat scope of the South Korean Navy's submarines, and will also enhance South Korea's "quasi-strategic" attack capability to some extent.
South Korea's "Island Hill Anchangho" conventional submarine can carry vertically launched ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. Its ballistic missiles can reportedly have a range of more than 800 kilometers and a cruise missile range of about 1500 kilometers. It can be seen that this submarine has a certain combat attack capability. South Korea is a country that cannot possess nuclear weapons, and the warheads of South Korean missiles cannot be loaded with nuclear weapons, but its ballistic missiles can rely on submarines to strike important targets on land from more than 800 kilometers away from the sea, which in itself has a certain campaign-level or even "quasi-strategic" level of attack capabilities.
South Korea has a certain gap compared with Japan in the construction of large surface ships. However, in the development of submarines, especially in the carrying of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, submarines are one step ahead of Japan. This is because the United States does not allow Japan to develop strategic offensive weapons, and Japan cannot strike at the land targets of enemy countries. Today, Japanese submarines can only carry anti-ship missiles and cannot carry land-attack weapons. For South Korea, the United States does not have such restrictions. As a result, South Korea has installed new missiles such as the "Xuanwu" missile developed by it on submarines, effectively expanding the scope of its submarine operations. Therefore, the successful development of the "Island Mountain Anchanghao" submarine enabled the ROK Navy to have a large-scale "quasi-strategic" attack capability for the first time.
Data chart: India's "Kalwari" class submarine "Kalangje" (Xinhuanet)
South Korea hopes to increase future defense exports by selling similar submarines to other countries. It is understood that at the time of the entry of the "Island Mountain Anchanghao" submarine, South Korea is competing with France, Germany and Russia to compete for the purchase order of India's second batch of 6 submarines. Military observer Yin Zhuo analyzed that because the core technology of South Korean submarines still mainly relies on the introduction, in this bidding, South Korea does not have an advantage. South Korea's vision of increasing defense exports by relying on the sale of submarines is also difficult to achieve.
In fact, South Korea's submarine technology is mainly imported from the United States and Germany, and South Korea's relatively good conventional submarines are first imported from Germany and then localized. In addition, South Korean submarines now have AIP technology (which does not rely on aerodynamic devices), partial muting technology for submarines, and some sonar and command and control systems. Therefore, South Korea's "Island Mountain Anchanghao" submarine is not 100% domestic, it has nearly 30% of the key technology is introduced, and this nearly 30% of the technology is mainly concentrated in information, power and weapons control, etc., these key technologies South Korea has not yet fully mastered, in this case, if South Korea to compete with Germany, France, the possibility of winning is unlikely. South Korea's advantage is the shipbuilding industry, in addition to its lower cost of man-hours, South Korean-built submarines may be relatively cheaper than other countries. If these imported technologies for South Korean submarines are approved by the host country, it is possible to sell high-performance submarines to the outside world. However, if South Korea wants to use submarine sales as the main source of revenue from military trade, this is still difficult. Because the core technology of South Korea's submarine is controlled by others, there is uncertainty about whether it can be approved for sale to other countries.
Reporter: Wang Bing