Newsnomics AJAY ANGELINA reporter |

South Korean Hanwha Aerospace, a defense and aerospace conglomerate set foot in India with its flagship

land system—K-9 Vajra with Indian partner L&T.

Hanwha is keen to offer its advanced systems and military platforms to India. Hanwha Aerospace, along with Hanwha Ocean, is focusing on the development of lithium-ion batteries to be loaded into India's next-

generation submarines that can greatly increase the combat capability, the duration of continuous navigation and high-speed operation in the water.

As the Indian government presented a vision for Hanwha's future plan over the P75I project, Hanwha said that “it is confident to actively carry out this project.”

The Indian P75I is a project to build six conventional submarines equipped with an air-independent propulsion system (AIP) in a strategic alliance (SP) between India and foreign defense companies.

“The P75I project is very important to us,” said Kim Dae-young, the Executive vice president of Hanwha Aerospace’s Overseas Business Center in an interview with Indian local media ‘Financial Express’ on June 27,2023.

“For the P75I project, we want to provide our state-of-the-art energy storage system technology for sub-

marine battery packs,” Kim added.

Kim also established an overall investment strategy including R&D in India by saying "We have extensive

experience working with local suppliers." 

Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) and India's Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) have already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to build a new Indian submarine. According to the

Indian industry, there is a possibility of signing a construction contract with Germany and installing battery fuel cells with Hanwha batteries to be loaded on submarines.

Hanwha Ocean has been well recognized for its technology since the days of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering by building the nation's first 3,000-ton submarine 'Dosan An Chang-ho' equipped with a lithium-

ion battery-based AIP.

South Korea is the second country in the world after Germany to develop AIP of Dosan Ahn Chang-ho equipped with a fuel cell for submarines that has been successfully localized.

In 2008, Hanwha Ocean began research on the localization of fuel cells with the Defense Science Research

Institute and completed the development of fuel cells in 2014. Domestic submarine technology has been

improved through cooperation with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, Defense Science

Research Institute, Defense Agency for Technology and Quality, and major domestic parts manufacturers such as Panhan Fuel Cell, KTE, Ewha Electric, Daesung Industrial Gases, and Wonil T&I.