South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) announced on 27 May that Philippines Department of National Defense Assistant Secretary for Logistics and Acquisition (ASEC), Jesus Rey. R Avilla, visited the Republic of Korea Navy’s (RoKN’s) Submarine Force Command on May 12, 2021 to discuss “various areas of co-operation” to enhance the Philippine Navy’s future submarine capabilities.
During his stay, the Assistant Secretary also visited the Korean Navy’s submarine workshops, training facilities and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), the builder of Korean submarines. DSME has been offering to Philippines its 1,400-ton submarine under a “Total Solution Package” which also includes crew-training and soft-loan to fulfill the Philippine Navy’s Submarine Acquisition Project.
The DSME said it has been offering its 1,400-ton submarine to the Philippine Navy. The DSME 1400PN diesel-electric submarines – an upgraded and modified version of the Nagapasa (DSME 1400)-class boats currently in service with the Indonesian Navy – along with crew training and a soft-loan to meet the Philippine’s submarine acquisition project. The Philippine has not yet selected the supplier for the submarines, but it has started preparing for it.
The Nagapasa class is an upgraded variant of the Cang Bogo class. The vessels were built by the DMSE and the Indonesian PT PAL. As of 2021, six ships have been planned, which were divided into two batches. Batch 1 consists of three ships and all are already commissioned. Batch 2 also consists of three ships that are in the early development stage. In December 2011, DSME won a contract to build three 1,400-ton Chang Bogo-class submarines for Indonesia at a cost of $1.07 billion.
