South Korea exempts nuclear submarine project from feasibility study

South Korea's defence acquisition committee approved the basic strategy for the Jangbogo N nuclear-powered submarine on Friday and exempted the project from the normally mandatory feasibility study, putting a three-boat, 8,000-ton class programme on course to start in 2027.

Why it matters: Skipping a study that normally takes one to two years accelerates South Korea's first domestically built nuclear-powered submarines, with a competitive tender among domestic shipbuilders due in the second half of 2027 and the lead boat planned to enter service in the late 2030s.

Data as of Yonhap News Agency report of November 6, 2026, in Korean, read in full via the estate browser route after the direct fetch was blocked; all programme figures and the timeline are the Defense Acquisition Program Administration's announcement as reported by Yonhap. DAPA did not disclose the total cost at this stage; the roughly 28.9 trillion won figure is Budget Minister Park Hong-geun's earlier estimate, as reported in the same article. Developing item.

South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee approved the basic strategy for the Jangbogo N (KSS-III Batch-III) nuclear-powered submarine project on Friday, and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said the project had been exempted from the feasibility study normally required for large weapons programmes, on security grounds. The programme covers three 8,000-ton class boats built with domestic technology, with the hull and system integration put out to competitive tender among domestic shipbuilders and the small modular reactor and key weapons supplied by the government.

The project is now set to start in 2027, with contractor selection after a tender notice in the second half of that year, the lead ship launched in the mid-2030s and entry into service in the late 2030s. DAPA did not disclose the total cost, citing the project’s security characteristics; Budget Minister Park Hong-geun has previously put the possible total at roughly 28.9 trillion won, and the specific cost is to be settled early next year.

South Korea exempts nuclear submarine project from feasibility study

Sources