South Korea is set to unveil a new submarine and a destroyer equipped with an advanced air defence system as part of efforts to strengthen naval capabilities, defence officials said Tuesday. The defence acquisition agency said an 1,800-ton diesel-electric submarine will be launched early next month, its second of the kind after the first model was launched last June.
The submarine has been developed in partnership with German firm Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, an unidentified official told Yonhap news agency.
It will be commissioned around November 2008 and named "Jeongji" after a Korean military officer of the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) who won a series of victories against the Japanese navy.
South Korea also has a number of earlier-model diesel-electric submarines made by the German firm.
The country plans next week to launch a destroyer fitted with the Aegis air defence system. The advanced guided missile destroyer, KDX-III, has been built by Hyundai Heavy Industries.
South Korea will become the fifth nation in the world to own such a ship equipped with the Aegis system, according to navy officials.
"We plan to build two more Aegis combat system-enabled destroyers by 2012 in a bid to keep up with the naval powers of Japan and China," a navy spokesman said.
Source: Agence France-Presse
