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South Korea HD Hyundai Heavy Industries
Dosan Ahn Changho-class submarine
South Korea's largest indigenously designed submarine class, built to give the Republic of Korea Navy an independent air-independent-propulsion strike platform capable of launching the Hyunmoo-4-4 submarine-launched ballistic missile. Batch-II boats lengthen the hull and add lithium-ion batteries alongside the fuel-cell AIP system to increase underwater endurance and vertical-launch capacity.
In service since 2021
Compiled from public sources ·primary reference ↗ ·last verified 2026-07-02
20
kn
3,750
t
50
crew
💲 ≈ $900,000,000 — Approximate per-submarine cost
Procurement snapshot
Availability & export
ROK export-licensed
DAPA-administered; aggressive export posture with financing/offset packages.
Channel: Government-to-government
Fielded & proven
Operator data not public
In service since 2021. Status: active · ~3 built.
Lifecycle cost (est.)
$2.3B – $3.1B
Acquisition is only ~30% of lifecycle cost — operating & support dominate over ~30 yrs. Rough 2.5–3.5× the unit price.
Interoperability
Derived guidance from public data — export regime by country of origin, lifecycle from the GAO ~30% acquisition rule. Verify eligibility, pricing and offsets with the manufacturer and your acquisition authority.
Full specifications
Firepower
Armament, payload and guidance.
- VLS cells
Vertical-launch missile cells on a warship — a proxy for magazine depth. Higher means more missiles before rearming.
- 6 Bottom 4% of submarines
- Torpedo tubes
Number of torpedo tubes (submarines and some surface ships).
- 6 Stronger than 53% of submarines
Physical
Dimensions, weight and crew.
- Length
Overall length including gun/probe where applicable.
- 83.5 m
Program
Cost, production scale and operators.
- Unit cost
Approximate flyaway/unit cost where public. Defense pricing varies hugely by contract, offsets and configuration. Lower is cheaper.
- $900,000,000 Stronger than 61% of submarines
- Units built
Total production run. Higher means proven manufacturing, mature logistics and spares availability.
- 3 Stronger than 25% of submarines
Specifications compiled from public HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and reference sources ↗. Published defense figures are approximations — treat comparisons as directional. Last verified 2026-07-02.
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How much does the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Dosan Ahn Changho-class submarine cost? +
The HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Dosan Ahn Changho-class submarine has an approximate unit cost of 900,000,000 USD. Defense pricing varies by contract, offsets and configuration — treat this as directional.
