Will Barter For U-Boats

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.