South Korea pitches Canada on $20B-plus plan for subs, armoured vehicles

A trio of South Korean companies person made a significant, multibillion-dollar transportation to Canada, promising to rapidly regenerate the navy's aging submarines, present much firepower to the service and assistance revitalize the country's defence concern base.

A elaborate overview of the unsolicited proposals, which were delivered to the national authorities successful aboriginal March, was fixed to CBC News.

The companies person the afloat backing of the South Korean government, which is anxious to grow the defence and information concern it signed with erstwhile premier curate Justin Trudeau 2 years agone successful Seoul.

CBC News was fixed unprecedented, exclusive entree to elder Korean defence and information officials arsenic good arsenic 2 defence plants and shipyards, which person acceptable speech their competitory differences successful bid to bid connected Canada's submarine replacement program.

Hanwha Ocean and Hyundai Heavy Industries submitted a detailed, associated presumption worthy $20 cardinal to $24 billion, promising to present the archetypal 4 submarines by 2035, the existent Royal Canadian Navy deadline to person conscionable 1 caller boat. It has besides pitched gathering attraction facilities successful this state which would employment Canadians.

Hanwha Aerospace, a sister institution to the shipyard, has separately enactment down 2 elaborate proposals to re-equip the service with big, mobile howitzers and rocket-propelled artillery, akin to the U.S.-made HIMAR system. It has besides projected a bigger bundle of armoured vehicles to capable the gaps the service has successful tracked warring vehicles and defence. 

Those pitches are worthy much than $1 billion, depending connected what the Canadian authorities chooses and travel with accelerated transportation times and the anticipation of mounting up attraction — and perchance manufacturing — centres, South Korean defence officials said.

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The proposals represent an unprecedented diplomatic and firm propulsion to get Canada to bargain its subject instrumentality elsewhere than the United States and Europe. 

"We bash not deliberation of this arsenic a single, one-time woody betwixt 2 countries. It's not a transaction for us," Deputy Defence Minister Hyunki Cho told CBC News successful a caller translated interview. "If we bash win successful making the sale, past we are going to effort and springiness our effort toward strengthening the capabilities of Canada's defence industry, arsenic good arsenic furthering defence co-operation."

Canada looking astatine procurement options

The bids were presented astatine a clip erstwhile galore Canadians — facing the Trump administration's commercialized warfare and threats of annexation — person demanded the national authorities cancel large subject purchases from the United States, including the F-35 combatant program.

The Liberal authorities of Prime Minister Mark Carney ordered a reappraisal of the program and hinted that Canada whitethorn instrumentality transportation of the craft it has already paid for and look elsewhere to capable the remainder of the order. In total, Canada has said it requires 88 precocious fighters. 

While it did not taxable a afloat unsolicited proposal, Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) has expressed involvement successful selling Canada its F-50 combatant craft arsenic a grooming pitchy that could beryllium rapidly converted into a combat aircraft. 

South Korea has besides begun manufacturing its ain stealth combatant successful concern with Indonesia. However, KAI officials person not yet offered it to Canada.

Despite the enthusiasm, there's heavy skepticism among South Korean defence and overseas argumentation officials and observers that Canada is superior astir breaking its dependency connected the defence-industrial analyzable of the United States. 

During the precocious concluded national predetermination campaign, Carney repeatedly made wide the narration with the U.S. had changed irrevocably.

"The aged narration we had with the United States based connected deepening integration of our economies and choky information and subject co-operation is over," Carney said connected March 27 successful Ottawa.

The Liberal acknowledged conscionable arsenic the predetermination run got underway that it was heavy into negotiations to articulation the European Union's ReArm defence program — a partnership that would marque Canada eligible for associated procurement with allies connected the continent.

South Korean defence experts constituent retired that Europe is inactive figuring retired however to re-arm with galore defence industries needing to retool and reopen accumulation lines shuttered since the extremity of the Cold War.

"The proviso concatenation is anemic successful Europe," Kayla Mijung Kim, of the Korean Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, told CBC News successful Seoul.

"Germany and France, for example, privation to marque their ain weapons systems, but they're constrained. They cannot procure each the defence components they request from European countries. I deliberation they request immoderate time."

Production bottlenecks — an facet that starkly presented itself arsenic countries rushed to limb Ukraine — have driven immoderate NATO allies to look elsewhere.

Poland is the astir melodramatic example. 

Since 2022, Warsaw has signed betwixt $16 cardinal and $22 cardinal US worthy of contracts with South Korean firms. Many of those deals for K2 Black Panther tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers and K239 Chunmoo aggregate rocket launchers have been breached down into tranches. Since then, different deals person followed with Norway, New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines, Romania and the United Kingdom. 

More recently, Australia jumped connected committee with a $6.19-billion programme to physique 129 infantry warring vehicles, galore of them constructed successful the Commonwealth country.

South Korea's curate of defence acquisition programme administration, Seok Jong-Gun, said the statement with Poland was the breakthrough successful convincing Western allies to see a root different than accepted armsmakers.

"Prior to the ample declaration signed with Poland, Korea's estimation arsenic a defence exporter was not that large," helium told CBC News successful a translated interview. "However, with the signing of a monolithic declaration with Poland and passim the process of implementing these contracts, galore countries person recovered that Korea is capable to proviso prime products successful a timely manner."

The offers to assistance acceptable up manufacturing and attraction facilities person been cardinal successful clinching the agreements, Seok said.

Former president Yoon Suk Yeol had made expanding the country's stock of defence exports a priority, to the constituent wherever South Korea appears connected way to beryllium the world's fourth-largest arms shaper by 2027.

"We person seen a ample and melodramatic summation successful our export measurement successful the defence sector" successful the past fewer years, Seok said.

As it stands, the Canadian Army is facing a fig of challenges — some overseas and domestically. It has struggled to tract instrumentality to its unit successful Latvia, including modern anti-tank weapons, air-defence systems and counter-drone technology.

It besides lacks mobile artillery and rocket-based artillery, which person been features of the warfare betwixt Ukraine and Russia. 

The service presently has 47 superior projects connected the go, Lt.-Gen. Mike Wright, the country's apical soldier, told CBC News successful February.

"The service we person present is not the service that we request for the future," Wright said erstwhile asked if helium was satisfied with the equipping of the troops connected the NATO ngo successful Latvia.

A defence adept said there's not a batch of clip to regenerate cardinal systems.

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"We got present by aggregate decades of governments kicking the tin down the road, and I deliberation we're astatine the constituent present wherever we person tally retired of road," said Dave Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. "Our instrumentality is — successful immoderate cases — virtually rusting out."

He said the connection from Seoul, careless of whether it's unsolicited, deserves superior information due to the fact that it tin capable immoderate important gaps quickly, an important information since we don't cognize what a defence-industrial concern with Europe volition look like.

South Korea "is wherever immoderate of our different allies person looked to rapidly capable capableness transportation needs successful a large hurry. Poland is getting its service rebuilt successful ample portion with South Korean support," Perry said.

"They've got a way grounds already astatine being capable to supply immense amounts of instrumentality successful precise abbreviated order. The Canadian Armed Forces is astatine the constituent wherever we person truly superior operational readiness deficiencies. We bash request to look for options that tin fulfil at slightest immoderate of our acquisition needs quickly."