According to Yonhap TV News, South Korea’s test of a submarine-launched missile (SLBM) has yielded successful results, paving the way for the country to become one of the few countries capable of designing and producing SLBMs on its own.
Details of the test are not publicly available, but the missile used is most likely a submarine-launched version of Hyunmoo 2B with a range of 500km.
Meanwhile, Naver newspaper quoted a source as saying that the type of submarine that carried out the test was the Dosan Ahn Chang Ho-class submarine. This is a ship equipped with a vertical missile launch system to fire SLBMs and is expected to be officially handed over to the Korean navy in a few months.
There are currently only 7 countries in the world capable of possessing the technology to launch missiles from submarines and all are nuclear powers. South Korea may be the only country that has the technology but does not possess a strategic nuclear weapon.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry did not confirm the test, stressing that security information is top secret. However, the agency affirmed that it will always upgrade the most modern weapons to ensure regional peace.
The South Korean Navy is expected to continue to strengthen its strategic capabilities by commissioning the Hyunmoo 4-4 submarine-launched missile after the US lifted the missile range restriction for the country in June. May 2021.
The Dosan Ahn Chang Ho-class submarine is equipped with six vertical launch systems, which can fire two Hyunmoo 4-4 missiles and one Hyunmoo 3C attack cruise missile with a range of 1,500km.
In the upgraded version of this submarine, South Korea is also expected to be equipped with 10 vertical launch systems.