South Korea has become India's leading Asian weapons supplier and defense industry partner and a recent agreement on warship construction for the Indian Navy cements this position for South Korea.

Both countries on April 21 signed an inter-governmental memorandum of understanding (MoU) on "Defense Industry Co-operation in Shipbuilding" that will facilitate their partnership in warship building programs. Under this deal, warships for the Indian Navy will be built at domestic shipyards with South Korean assistance.

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The MoU was signed by Ashok Kumar Gupta, India's Secretary of Defense Production and Chang Myoung-jin, South Korean Minister of Defense Acquisition and Program Administration.

India has selected state-owned Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) to cooperate with a shipyard nominated by South Korea.

Located at Visakhapatnam on the east coast of India, HSL has built some 2,000 ships, including warships for the Indian Navy. It's upgrading its facilities to build nuclear powered submarines. It currently refits and overhauls navy submarines.

HSL and top South Korean shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI), are teaming-up to build five fleet-support ships costing about $1.5 billion. They're also partners in building two strategic operating vessels, or midgets, costing some $448 million.

HHI is the world's largest shipbuilding company.

HSL and the nominated shipyard by South Korea will identify and develop indigenous sources and vendors for the supply of majority of the materials and equipment for warship construction.

"The Inter-Governmental MoU, was conceived under the overall umbrella of the 'Special Strategic Partnership' between both sides as declared in the Joint Statement of the Prime Minister of India and the President of [South Korea] in May 2015," said India's Ministry of Defense in a statement.

Other Indian firms are also cooperating with South Korean shipbuilders to supply warships for the Indian Navy.

Indian state-owned Goa Shipyard Limited and Kangnam Corporation are building 12 mine countermeasures vessels (MCMVs) worth more than $5.5 billion. Kangnam provides consultancy, design and technological assistance to the Indian shipyard for $1 billion.

Kangnam is a designated defense industry shipyard of the Korean Ministry of National Defense. It works closely with the Republic of Korea Navy and other defense research organization to design, develop, construct and continuously upgrade MCMVs.

TagsSouth Korea, India, Indian Navy, Defense Industry Co-operation in Shipbuilding, memorandum of understanding, Ashok Kumar Gupta, Chang Myoung-jin, Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.