The military authorities have decided to transfer the Navy's first submarine, the Jang Bogo, to Poland free of charge ahead of its retirement at the end of this year.
According to the military authorities and others on the 26th, the government made the decision to support domestic companies hoping to take part in Poland's next-generation submarine acquisition program, the "Orka project." An official at the Ministry of National Defense said it plans to use the Jang Bogo in defense exports and cooperation.
Earlier, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said at the National Defense Committee's audit in Oct. that it was pushing a plan to export three Type 209 (1,200-ton) training submarines, which are surplus Navy equipment, to raise the chances of winning the Polish submarine project.
The Jang Bogo is the lead ship of the Type 209 class. The Jang Bogo began construction at Germany's HDW shipyard in 1988 and was launched in 1991. The Navy took delivery of the submarine in 1992 and deployed it for operations in 1994. Having completed its final voyage on the 19th and wrapping up more than 30 years of missions, the Jang Bogo sailed about 633,000 kilometers.
Meanwhile, Poland aims to introduce three new 3,000-ton submarines through the Orka project. The program is worth about 3.4 trillion won, and up to 8 trillion won including maintenance, repair and operations (MRO). Competing for the Orka project are several global corporations, including Korea's Hanwha Ocean, Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), Italy's Fincantieri and Sweden's Saab.