South Korea launches Aegis destroyer

From DefenseNews

Posted 05/25/07 08:11

S. Korea Launches Aegis Destroyer

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, SEOUL

South Korea on May 25 launched its first Aegis destroyer equipped with advanced air and sea weaponry, on the same day that North Korea test-fired several missiles.

President Roh Moo-Hyun, speaking at the launch of the billion-dollar 7,600-ton KDX-III destroyer, said South Korea must be mindful of what he called a regional arms race.

"The ship, armed with [a] state-of-the-art defense system and combat capability, is one of the world’s best destroyers," Roh said at a ceremony at the Ulsan dockyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries, which built the ship.

"We have to secure our ability to defend ourselves not only in terms of naval power but in all kinds of combat capabilities," he said, adding that South Korea will push on with a program to create an oceangoing navy.

Roh said he had considered whether such an expensive ship, the first of three, is really needed.

"However, we cannot sit idle in the face of a continuing arms race in the Northeast Asian region," he said.

He did not specify countries. A navy spokesman this month said the Aegis destroyer was an attempt to keep up with the naval powers of Japan and China.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service and Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North test-fired several short-range missiles May 25 as part of what is thought to be routine military training.

"The firing of short-range missiles is believed to be part of usual military training that the North has been carrying out in the West Sea and the East Sea (Sea of Japan)," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

South Korea is the fifth country to have the Aegis integrated weapons control system following the U.S., Japan, Spain and Norway, the navy said.

The destroyer — named the King Sejong — “has integrated capabilities in broad-range air defence, support for ground operations, automatic tracking and destruction of enemy aircraft and guided and ballistic missiles," the navy said in a statement. "The new destroyer is expected to greatly boost combat capabilities."

A second Aegis destroyer will be launched in 2010, and the third in 2012.

The Aegis system, built by U.S. firm Lockheed Martin, allows a ship to combat multiple surface, underwater and aerial threats.

The King Sejong is also equipped with locally developed ship-to-ship missiles and torpedoes as well as various ship-to-air missiles and ship-to-surface cruise missiles.

Stealth technology has also been used, making radar detection harder. The ship will be deployed operationally in 2009.

South Korea has also teamed up with Germany to build 1,800-tonne modern submarines. A second such submarine will be launched early next month.

[Aegis technology is certainly proliferating, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. What will be the next naval battle look like when both sides have Aegis or Aegis-like capabilities ?]