Korea’s shipbuilding industry may be a tight three-way race, but when it comes to warships, the unequaled frontrunner is Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

DSME’s business records include the nation’s first-ever submarine export, as well as deals to export battleships to naval champion states such as the United Kingdom and Norway.

DSME’s involvement in the battleship market traces back to the 1980s when it built a 1,000-ton patrol combat corvette for the Navy, according to officials.

Backed by its initial success, the company continued to expand its leverage in the sector, moving onto frigates, patrol boats and submarines.

The Jangbogo submarine, the first to be built by DSME in 1987 with the technical assistance of its German partners, is regarded to this day as one of the top submarines in the world, officials said.

In the Rim of the Pacific Exercise in 2004, the decades-old submarine succeeded in more than 40 mock torpedo attacks against adversary ships including a U.S. aircraft carrier, without once being detected.

When DSME closed the $1.1 billion deal in 2011 to build three 1,400-ton submarines for the Indonesian Defense Ministry, this not only became Korea’s first-ever export of submarines but also the largest sum in the military export market.

The company is also highly competitive in surface units such as destroyers, frigates, and Aegis battleships.

One of the most representative examples is the KDX-3 destroyer which was delivered to the Korean Navy in 2010. It incorporates long-distance torpedoes and missiles, as well as automatic tracking systems for ballistic missiles.

“We will foster the military ship sector as a key axis of the company’s future growth,” said CEO Ko Jae-ho.

In July this year, DSME kicked off a new business department specializing in special ships, displaying its ambition to advance further in the military ship market.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)