Hanwha Ocean and Babcock International Group of the United Kingdom are launching a full-fledged working group to win global submarine business.
The two companies recently held a meeting in Warsaw, Poland, and signed a Teaming Agreement, which includes the formation of a steering committee to pursue submarine business in global markets such as Poland and Canada.
The event was attended by Hanwha Ocean's Jeong Sungkyun, Head of Naval Ship International Business, and Sir Nick Hine, Managing Director of International Business/AUKUS.
Earlier, in mid-January, Babcock International's Sir Nick Hine visited Korea to closely observe Hanwha Ocean's submarine R&D and design and construction capabilities and expressed his intention to actively cooperate with the company.
During the visit, Sir Nick Hine proposed the installation of Babcock International's armed launching system on KSS-III submarines exported to Poland and Canada, as well as In Service Support (ISS) business cooperation.
Prior to the signing ceremony, engineers from Hanwha Aerospace, Hanwha Systems, and Babcock International, which manufactures the main payload system for the KSS-III submarine, as well as Hanwha Ocean, held technical discussions on the submarine business in Poland for two days in Warsaw.
Hanwha Ocean also visited PGZ Naval Shipyard in Gdynia to learn about the current status of the Miecznik frigate construction project from Babcock International Poland, and discussed possible areas of cooperation when Hanwha Ocean enters the Polish market in the future.
"The signing of the teaming agreement between Hanwha Ocean and Babcock International is a major momentum for winning submarine projects overseas," said Hanwha Ocean's Head Jeong. "Babcock's rich ISS experience and business management capabilities will give Hanwha Ocean a great boost in the competition for the ORKA submarine project in Poland and the CPSP submarine project in Canada."
"We are very pleased to be working with Hanwha Ocean in the global submarine market, including the Polish and Canadian projects," said Babcock's Sir Nick Hine. "Together, we will further develop the 'on-time delivery of exceptional submarines and logistics support' that is a strategic requirement in today's submarine export markets."
