August 11, 2020

South Korean Nuclear Propelled Submarine: Renewed Interest

Since 2015 I've been looking at the possibility of a nuclear propelled South Korean (SK) submarine (called KSS-N) which is larger than SK's KSS-III (see Submarine Matters' References below).

In 2015 I stated: "South Korea's strategy includes the creation of a pre-emptive strike "kill chain" (of threat detection, decision making-authorisation and (mainly missile) pre-emptive strike) against North Korea. Submarines would be a (or the) principal pre-emptive strike and counter-strike platform. Subsonic cruise missiles are generally too slow for these roles - making supersonic+ cruise and ballistic missiles the logical solution."

So it comes as no surprise that yesterday Elizabeth Shim for UPI (August 10, 2020) reported https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2020/08/10/South-Korea-to-invest-250B-in-missile-defense-submarines/4891597071443/ in part:

"...The [SK] defense ministry has also confirmed plans to build 3,600-ton and 4,000-ton submarines. The military is expected to install submarine-launched ballistic missiles, but a decision on whether the submarines are to be nuclear-powered is pending, according to reports. South Korea has agreed with the United States to not use nuclear power for military purposes.
Washington and Seoul recently agreed South Korea could revise missile guidelines that would allow for the use of solid fuel space rockets to launch military satellites..."

Submarine Matters' References

South Korean Submarines, 3,000+ ton KSS-III, Nuclear Potential,  April 16, 2015 at https://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2015/04/south-korean-submarines-3000-ton-kss.html

South Korean and Japanese Nuclear Submarine Propulsion, October 21, 2019 https://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2019/10/south-korean-and-japanese-nuclear.html

South Korea looking at France’s Barracuda SSN or Just the K15 Reactor, October 25, 2019
https://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2019/10/south-korea-looking-at-frances.html

Pete

3 comments:

Tri-ring said...

Hi Pete san

I doubt neither Japan or SK will obtain a nuclear reactor compact enough to power a sub in the next decade.
Why would either nations require a nuclear powered sub in the first place?
besides it's per-longed endurance underwater, I don't think there is much use unless either nations has ambitious beyond East Asian waters.
There are various other new emerging tech that might revolutionize subs in the next couple of decades such as this;

https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/nuclear/nuclear-fusiontokamak-not-included

Instead of nuclear fission reactor, how about a nuclear fusion reactor?
If you incorporate this;

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-particle-accelerator-fits-on-a-silicon-chip1/

The reactor would probably become smaller then the present diesel engine powering present-day subs.

Anonymous said...

Hi Pete

In future South Korea (SK) will upgrade SSN to SSBN to independent from USA and China after joining the CNY-Base Currency system and improving diplomatic relation with Russia. USA will apply harsh economic sanction against SK under the present USD-Base Currency system to prevent from this situation.

Regards

Pete said...

Hi Tri-ring and Anonymous

See my response to your comments at http://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2020/08/s-korean-japanese-nuclear-submarine.html dated August 12, 2020.

Cheers

Pete