South Korea tries to offer its Dosan Anh Changho submarine to Australia

The least that can be said is that the South Korean authorities spare no effort to promote their defense equipment throughout the world. After convincing Egypt to acquire 200 K-9 self-propelled guns, and signed a partnership with Turkey to complete the construction of the Altay battle tank, Seoul has teamed up with Warsaw in what could be one of the most ambitious defense industrial cooperation efforts of the decade. In Australia, the South Korean authorities have already managed to place the K-9 self-propelled gun under the Land 8116 program, Canberra having announced in December 2021 the acquisition of 30 K-9 armored self-propelled systems designated AS9 for the occasion , and 15 AS10 ammunition transport and reloading vehicles, for 1 billion Australian dollars, a little over 700 m€. And as is the case in Turkey and Poland, Seoul intends to take advantage of this dynamic engaged in Australia.

First, the infantry fighting vehicle AS21 Redback is today in the final against the German KF41 Lynx within the framework of the competition within the framework of the competition Land 400 pass 3 for the acquisition between 300 and 450 infantry fighting vehicles for the Australian Army, competition for which many echoes suggest that the South Korean tank would be the preference of the Australian authorities, in particular because of a more accessible price. In fact, South Korean defense companies now have an effective network in Australia, made up of former political and military figures, to support their proposals. It is precisely this network that has been called upon to present, in a completely unofficial way, a South Korean offer to respond to the increasingly pressing problem for Canberra regarding the renewal of its fleet of submarines, in a communication exercise perfectly mastered by Seoul.

We will not return to the consequences of the cancellation of the SEA 1000 contract by former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for the benefit of the acquisition of American or British nuclear-powered submarines. It is now becoming increasingly clear that the Royal Australian Navy is going to have to face a major capacity gap between the withdrawal of its 6 Collins-class submarines, which should take place by 2035 at the latest, and the arrival of the first nuclear-powered submarines developed within the framework of the AUKUS alliance, which will not occur before 2040, in the best of cases. In fact, for more than 10 years, the Australian naval forces will face a marked capability deficit in the field of submarine warfare, with at least 5 years of total capability breakdown, even though during this period, the threat Chinese will reach its climax. If the Germans, Swedish and even Japanese have been trying for several months to discreetly propose a transitional solution to the Australian authorities, the South Koreans have chosen a probably much more effective approach, directly targeting public opinion in the country.

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