South Korean Navy has test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from its first indigenous ballistic missile submarine.
The 3,000-ton-class submarine, named Dosan An Chang-ho , is the first of three 3,000-ton-class Changbogo-III Batch-I submarines that South Korea plans to build by 2023.
The state-run Agency for Defense Development supervised the launch of the SLBM, according to recent media reports.
The SLBM is believed to be a variant of the country’s Hyunmoo-2B ballistic missile, with a range of around 500 kilometres, and will be mass produced for deployment after another round of tests, according to the military sources.
Dosan Ahn Chang-ho is part of the South Korean attack submarine program which includes three phases, KSS-I, KSS-II and KSS-III.
The third phase envisages the construction of up to nine indigenously built KSS-III diesel-electric attack submarines capable of firing ballistic missiles.
Featuring a length of 83.3 meters and a width of 9.6 meters, the new diesel-electric air-independent propulsion submarine can accommodate 50 people.
South Korea joins only a handful of countries to have developed an SLBM after the United States, Russia, Britain, France, India, China and North Korea.