Pondering the South Korean decision to build the KSS-III submarine of their own design
Thinking in general about the South Korean vs TKMS (German/Norwegian) proposal, I note the KSS-II class submarine of Korea was a German Type-214 class submarine, built in South Korea.
Now that I have been digging through the press, learning a bit more about submarine lineage of the South Korean KSS-III batch-2 (and the German TKMS Type-212CD), I note for the KSS-III batch-1, 2 and eventually batch-3, South Korea has decided to domestically design and build these sumarines. I am asking myself, is there more than just 'domestic build benefits' to the South Korean decision? Could it also be design aspects of the Type-214 (ie South Korean KSS-II) that lead Korea to decide it was better off to both design and build its own superior class of submarine?
So in regards to the Type-214 (ie KSS-II) according to a
National Interest blog, there were issues with the Type-214 class. I quote:
Further
Navelnews goes on to report:
Despite all of that I note Nationalinterest article notes the issues with the Type-214 have been addressed where the
https://nationalinterest.org article concludes with:
Still - it does make me wonder if the German export submarine Type-214 having issues, were a factor in South Korea going its own way with the KSS-III batch-1 (which is operational) , which they then improved on with the under construction KSS-III-batch-2?
Having typed that, India has very recently selected the German Type-214 class submarine, where I have read conflicting reports re:the Indian customization. Some articles have suggested the India version of the Type-214 will have a stretched hull with a larger displacement. I don't know if that accurate. Likely the Indian Type-214 variant will have other improvements to address issues other navies found with the Type-214.
I am obviously curious to learn/read more about the South Korean KSS-III-batch-2 which owes its lineage to the KSS-II (German Type-214).
