The ROK Navy’s Recon UUV and Mine Warfare USV project is part of the Navy Sea Ghost concept that was announced in 2022, marking the 77th anniversary of the ROK Navy’s establishment. The Navy Sea Ghost concept is part of the National Defense Revolution 4.0, focuses on MUM-T (Manned-Unmanned Teaming) and represents as ROK military’s mission to advance its capabilities through advanced technology.
Hanwha Ocean stated that they have received high evaluation scores for their technology in both UUVs and USVs during this bidding process. Moreover, as this result was achieved through a consortium with Hanwha Systems, they are expecting more synergies among the affiliates for enhanced competitiveness in the future unmanned vessel export market.
In 2024, Hanwha Ocean took a significant step by beginning Korea’s first large-scale unmanned surface vessel design project. Building on its achievements since 2022, the company has been at the forefront of futuristic unmanned system development. This includes conceptualizing combat UUVs and developing energy systems for unmanned submersibles. In addition, Hanwha Ocean’s consortium partner Hanwha System started developing prototype of MRXUUV (Mission Reconfigurable eXtra-large Unmanned Underwater Vehicle) for the Republic of Korea’s ADD (Agency for Defense Development) last year. These efforts and well-established reputation in unmanned systems, has played a crucial role in securing its latest contract.
Hanwha Ocean has stated that it will contribute to maintaining national defense with its unmanned systems and technology during times of manpower crisis for the ROK military.
The ‘Reconnaissance Unmanned Underwater Vehicle,’ which is now entering the conceptual design phase, is set to become a core asset of the future ROK Navy. It will stealthily approach operational areas to perform continuous surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Once operational, it will enhance the maritime reconnaissance capabilities of the mothership it operates with. The ‘Mine Warfare Unmanned Surface Vehicle’ will also serve various purposes. It will perform information collection and analysis duties during peacetime, and during wartime, it will undertake mine detection and mine sweeping tasks playing a crucial role in securing safe navigation routes for ROK vessels.
Hanwha Systems USV at Madex 2023
During MADEX 2023, Hanwha Systems showcased its MUM-T designs, which included the search and reconnaissance USV named ‘Sea GHOST’, and the multi-mission USV named ‘M-Searcher’. The ‘Sea GHOST’ USV is equipped with an EO/IR camera, a 12.7MM machine gun for reconnaissance missions, and can deploy UUVs and drones for enhanced reconnaissance. The ‘M-Searcher’, a multi-mission USV, is a modularized platform that can switch between underwater search and surface reconnaissance mission packages to conduct multi-missions.
Since the conceptual design is the first step toward full development and construction of recon UUVs and mine warfare USVs, clear pictures and information about the how the recon UUV and the mine warfare USV announced yesterday will look like is currently unavailable.
 and Mine Warfare Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) for the ROK Navy.){kind=link}