Sinpo / Pongdae (class)

History of Xinpu/Pongdae (Class)

Overall, North Korea lacks the shipbuilding capabilities of the West in building advanced ocean-going attack platforms, but its industry is capable of producing some viable combat systems. The Sinpo-class submarine is an example of a local industry initiative to provide the North Korean People's Navy (KPM) with an advanced ballistic missile platform to further expand the country's growing missile ambitions.

This type is one of the newer submarines available to KPN and one of the largest attempted by the hermit nation.

The Shinpu class is expected to inherit the aging line of Soviet-era Romeo class submarines, of which KPN is a customer (about 77 in service). The Xinpu class is also known as the Fengtai class.

The Snipo boat series uses traditional diesel-electric propulsion systems, believed to be influenced by various Soviet-era submarines in design and layout. The overall length is estimated at 65.5m, with the beam reaching 6.6m, giving the boat a relatively compact footprint. Performance, also estimated, includes a surface speed of 16 knots and an underwater speed of nearly 10 knots.

The range is up to 1,500 nautical miles.

Diesel-electric propulsion means that the diesel unit is used for traveling on the surface and the battery pack powers the electric propulsion system for underwater work. This forces the boat to surface to recharge its batteries and emit dangerous carbon dioxide gas.

The ship has both traditional torpedo weapons (probably 4 x 533mm bow tubes) and support for Pukkuksong-1 (KN-11) Surface Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBM). The latter weapon is known to have been launched from a Sinpo-class submarine for testing purposes in May 2015.

It is a single-stage solid-fuel rocket with a range of 1000 kilometers.

Up to seven ships in this class are currently recognised, with one in service and six under construction.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Wing