Hanwha Ocean has entered into strategic cooperation with local Canadian corporations to win the Canada Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP), which is valued at up to 60 trillion won. Hanwha Group has launched an all-out effort to expand industrial cooperation, which the Canadian government places importance on in this project.
Hanwha Group said on the 27th that it signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) for strategic investment and cooperation with five Canadian corporations in steel, artificial intelligence (AI), and space at the Korea-Canada Industrial Cooperation Forum held at the Park Hyatt Toronto on the 26th local time.
Hanwha Ocean signed an MOU with Algoma Steel, Canada's largest steelmaker. On the premise of winning the submarine contract, the companies agreed to use Canadian steel in building a local steel plant and in maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) infrastructure for submarines. The move aims to establish a stable steel supply chain. To that end, Hanwha Ocean will provide 345 million Canadian dollars (about 364.7 billion won) in grants.
Hanwha Ocean and Hanwha Systems also signed an MOU with Cohere, a Canadian unicorn AI corporation, for AI technology cooperation. Based on Cohere's large language model (LLM) and large multimodal model (LMM), they plan to develop AI technologies applicable to shipbuilding—from production planning to design and manufacturing—and to submarine systems integration.
Kim Hee-cheul, CEO of Hanwha Ocean, said, "By building stable and long-term steel production and infrastructure in Canada, we will secure a trustworthy submarine force for future generations."
Hanwha Systems will cooperate with Telesat, a Canadian satellite communications corporation, in the field of low Earth orbit satellite communication networks. Hanwha Systems' capabilities in manufacturing communications satellites and developing satellite terminals will be combined with Telesat's satellite network operation and design technologies. Based on this, the core of the MOU is to introduce a "next-generation low Earth orbit satellite communication network."
In particular, Hanwha Systems and Telesat will jointly develop the South Korean military's "military low Earth orbit satellite communication system" project. Telesat aims to launch 198 advanced low Earth orbit satellites by 2026 to provide satellite communication services.
Hanwha Systems signed an MOU with MDA Space for satellite communications and space technology cooperation for defense and security purposes. Hanwha Systems said it will create synergy with MDA Space's next-generation software-defined satellite (SDS) platform, Aurora. SDS refers to satellites equipped with software that adjusts a satellite's performance depending on the situation. In connection with Canada's next-generation submarine program, this also includes secure communications related to submarine operations, data resiliency, and command and control functions.
It will also work with PV Labs to advance electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor technology for use in the security field. Son Jae-il, CEO of Hanwha Systems, said, "Based on Hanwha Systems' unrivaled suite of submarine operation technologies across the marine, satellite, AI, and security sectors, we will do our utmost to help Korea establish itself as a core partner in Canada's global economic and security supply chains."
Recently, KPMG, a global management consulting corporation, projected that if Hanwha's industrial cooperation plan to win Canada's submarine contract is implemented, it will create employment for more than a cumulative 200,000 people in Canada on a headcount basis from this year through 2040.