S.Korean National Assembly Initiates Funding for Light Aircraft Carrier Project

South Korea’s National Assembly approved a 7.2 billion won ($6.1 million) budget to initiate the long-delayed project to build a light aircraft carrier for the Navy.

The move reverses a committee-level decision last month to reduce the budget to 500 million won. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) is expected to begin working on the design of the envisioned carrier that it wants to ready by 2033, Yonhap News Agency reported citing DAPA and Navy officials.

The overall process to develop a new naval vessel consists of three stages -- the conceptual design, basic design and detailed design. The country already conducted the conceptual-stage process from October 2019 to December last year.