South Korea is pulling out all the stops in the competition for Canada's submarine contract and has prepared a truly comprehensive new proposal one that now includes space cooperation.
As Hanwha Defence Canada CEO Glen Copeland announced, Hanwha Aerospace plans to sign a memorandum of understanding with Canadian company Maritime Launch Services Inc.
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Bloomberg reports that since Canada currently has no operational launch site or launch vehicle operator, Hanwha is offering its support, with Copeland highlighting plans to invest in building rocket capabilities to accelerate Canada's independent launch capability.
From Defense Express's perspective, South Korea is effectively fighting tooth and nail for all 12 potential submarine contracts for the Canadian Navy as it was reported back in March that Ottawa was considering splitting the contract between South Korea's Hanwha Ocean and Germany's TKMS.
March reporting also noted that a final decision on submarine procurement to replace the Victoria-class boats was expected by April 4, but Canada has shown no rush to select a winner, with the deadline subsequently shifting to June.
As of now, the Canadian Cabinet has begun receiving proposal assessments.
In addition to space cooperation, South Korea is offering Canada a range of more tangible incentives if Ottawa selects Seoul and awards the full 12-submarine contract to Hanwha for its KSS-III Batch-II submarines.
These include localization of submarine production in Canada a standard feature of South Korean defense industry proposals as well as a commitment to source steel for contract fulfillment from local company Algoma Steel Group Inc.
Hanwha also emphasizes that its submarines will be less expensive than the German alternative though no specific pricing has been disclosed, making objective comparison difficult and that they will be the fastest to deliver, given that Canada needs these submarines, as the saying goes, yesterday.
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