[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] Over 20 Years Stalled 'Special Infiltration Boat and Special Warfare Support Ship' Project

Special Warfare Support Ship 'Spearhead' Owned by the United States (Photo by U.S. Navy)

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The introduction project of special infiltration boats and special warfare support ships, which are key forces in the northwestern islands, has not progressed for over 20 years. The military initially planned to replace the navy's aging maritime infiltration boats and support ships with stealth-capable special infiltration boats and special warfare support ships, but the budget was ultimately cut from next year's budget.

The next year's defense budget, approved by the National Assembly on the 3rd, was finalized at 52.8401 trillion won, a 5.4% increase compared to this year. Among this, the Ministry of National Defense proposed 208 million won for the development of special infiltration boats and 22.557 billion won for special warfare support ships. However, these were cut to only 62 million won and 106 million won, respectively, after reductions of 146 million won and 31.6 billion won.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff decided in October 2008 that "the navy's maritime infiltration boats and support ships have reached the end of their service life and are vulnerable to waves, limiting mission performance," and decided to introduce stealth-capable special infiltration boats and special warfare support ships.

The project gained momentum following North Korea's Yeonpyeong Island shelling incident in November 2010. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) held a Defense Acquisition Promotion Committee meeting in 2011 to expedite the introduction. The following year, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering was commissioned with 7.76 billion won to conduct exploratory development to evaluate whether special infiltration boats and special warfare support ships could be developed domestically. In June last year, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering concluded that domestic development of special infiltration boats was difficult and that production should be done through technical cooperation with overseas defense companies. They also decided to finalize the special warfare support ships that would carry the special infiltration boats.

The project seemed to proceed smoothly. However, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission recommended changing the project promotion method, stating that entrusting exploratory development to private companies to decide the project promotion method was illegal. Accordingly, DAPA had the Defense Technology Quality Institute re-verify the domestic development capability of the special infiltration boats. The institute leaned towards the possibility of domestic development. The direction was set for domestic small and medium shipyards to develop and build the special infiltration boats, and in 2017, the Defense Acquisition Promotion Committee reviewed and approved separating system development and mass production.

However, problems continued. The special warfare support ships could not proceed because their development depended on the completion of the exploratory development of the special infiltration boats, causing delays in the project schedule.

Meanwhile, the defense capability improvement fund, used for new weapon acquisitions, was allocated only 16.9994 trillion won, reduced by 77.4 billion won from the government's proposal of 17.0738 trillion won. In particular, the navy's new high-speed boat (230-ton class) project, which revealed propulsion system issues, saw its budget cut by 109.6 billion won, along with significant reductions in the fleet air defense missile (51.5 billion won) and Gyeonggi Machine Gun-II (31.6 billion won) budgets. On the other hand, budgets related to surveillance and reconnaissance assets, such as the military satellite communication system-II, Baekdu reconnaissance aircraft capability enhancement, and combined forces information system performance upgrades, were increased or newly established. This is interpreted as a focus on securing surveillance and reconnaissance assets ahead of the transfer of wartime operational control.