DSME opens R&D center for warships

Ko Jae-ho, center, CEO of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, cuts a cake along with other guests to celebrate the opening of a research and development center for warships at its head office in Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of DSME

By Kim Tae-jong

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), the world’s second-largest shipbuilder, has opened a research and development center specializing in warships, the company said Wednesday.

“We expect the studies at the center to help strengthen our competitiveness in technology used to build warships,” Ko Jae-ho, CEO of the firm, said during an opening ceremony, Tuesday.

He also said that the center will help promote the country’s “creative economy,” which is one of the major goals that President Park Geun-hye wants to achieve over her five-year tenure. The concept is developing the economy through convergence between information technology and other businesses.

The opening ceremony was attended by 80 distinguished guests including Rep. Kim Sung-chan of the ruling Saenuri Party; Vice-Chief of Naval Operations Eom Hyun-sung; Society of Naval Architecture of Korea Chairman Shin Jong-gye; and Korea Association of Defense Industry Studies Chairman Chae Woo-seok.

“Strengthening naval forces is a global trend,” lawmaker Kim said during a congratulatory speech. “As it is the country’s first R&D center for warships, I expect it to be a steppingstone to lead a leap forward for the nation’s navy.”

The center is compromised of 50 researchers in four groups, who will conduct studies on submarines and warships.

The company plans to strengthen R&D facilities at the center by constructing a dedicate building in Mago, Seoul by 2017. The company will construct a new head office building there, which will house the R&D center and other facilities.

Since its first orders for submarines from the Indonesian government in 2011, Daewoo has won additional orders for ships from the Korean Navy, Britain and Norway.