July 8,
2008: South Korea and Indonesia have
cooked up an interesting barter deal. Indonesia wants some new subs. South
Korea needs more maritime patrol aircraft. The deal will have two South Korean
built Type 209 subs (costing about $200 million each) going to Indonesia, while
eight new CN-235 two engine transports (easily converted to maritime patrol,
and costing about $40 million each) going to South Korea. There are other items
involved in the trade, but those subs and aircraft are the main items. The CN-235s were jointly developed by Spain
and Indonesia. The South Korean subs are based on German designs.