Korea’s KDX-III AEGIS Destroyers
Mar 29, 2011 12:06 EDT
RIMPAC 2010
(click to view full)
2nd destroyer begins operational service. (June 1/11)
KDX (Korean Destroyer eXperimental) is the Republic of Korea’s big surface combatant shipbuilding program. This 3-phased program involves 3 individual classes of ships. The 3 KDX-I Gwanggaeto the Great Class ships are called destroyers, but at 3,800 tons, their size and armament more properly rank them as small frigates. The last ship of class was commissioned in 2000. The next 6 KDX-II Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin Class ships are indeed destroyers at 6,085 tons full load, with a hull design licensed from Germany’s IABG and more advanced systems that include SM-2 air defense missiles. They were commissioned between 2003-2008.
With that experience under their belts, Korea has entered the 3rd phase of the program. Ther KDX-III King Sejong the Great Class destroyers are by far the largest, at 8,500 tons standard displacement and 11,000 tons full load. They carry the AEGIS combat system, along with a wide array of American, European, and Korean weapons and missiles….
- The KDX III Sejongdaewang-Ham Class [updated]
- Contracts and Key Events [updated]
- Additional Readings
The KDX III Sejongdaewang-Ham Class
(click to view full)
The KDX-III is clearly intended to be a multi-purpose destroyer will full air defense, land attack, anti-shipping, and anti-submarine capabilities. It is also being designed with the ability to add tactical ballistic missile defense capabilities, and important consideration if North Korea is your neighbor. At present, however, the ships do not possess AEGIS BMD modifications, or SM-3 missiles. The ROKN has ordered 3 ships so far, with an option for another 3.
Built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, 415 kilometers (257 miles) southeast of Seoul, the KDX-III King Sejong Class will be significantly larger than the 5,000t KDX-IIs, at 166m / 544 feet long and 21m/ 69 feet wide, and 49m/ 161 feet deep, with a standard displacement of over 7,600t, and a full load displacement of around 10,000t. That could easily be considered cruiser size. A set of 4 ubiquitous GE LM2500 naval gas turbines provide main power, giving them a high top speed of 30 knots.
Sometimes described as an enlarged and updated DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class, KDX-III will also use the advanced AEGIS radar & combat system combination with the AN/SPY-1D radar, and carry 128 Mk 41 vertical launch cells. They can be loaded with vertically-launched SM-2 Block IIIB surface-to-air missiles for anti-aircraft duties, advancing to ABM-capable SM-3s with radar and combat system upgrades. The cells can also carry vertically-launch anti-ship missiles, or even anti-submarine rocket/torpedo combinations like Korea’s own Red Shark “K-ASROC.” KDX-III destroyers are expected to fill 16 of their cells with those. Other naval and land targets can be confronted with any combination of Hyunmoo or Tomahawk cruise missiles, SSM-700K Haesung anti-ship missiles, etc. that the ROKN decides to place in the remaining MK 41 and K-VLS vertical launch cells. A pair of 324mm torpedo mounts in KMK 32 configuration round out the ship’s anti-submarine strike capability.
Fixed weapons will include BAE’s 5-inch/ 127mm MK45 Mod 4 naval gun, Raytheon’s RIM-116B Rolling Airframe Missile Block 1, plus a 30mm Thales “Goalkeeper” CIWS system for close-in defense. This will give the destroyers 3-layer protection, which could become 4 layers if South Korea ever buys the long-range SM-3, with its ballistic missile defense capability.
(click to view full)
The ships are being designed with a number of low-observable features to reduce their radar profile. These measures also include advanced infa-red signature reduction methods designed to give it an IR signature far superior to comparable ships, including its U.S. contemporary the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke class destroyer.
Official statements said that the name Sejongdaewang-Ham (“King Sejong”) was chosen for the first ship because of this importance in Korean history. Besides supporting the creation of the Korean “Hangeul” alphabet, this 15th century Chosun Dynasty monarch is also known for strengthening the country’s national defense capability.
After the ROKS King Sejong’s official delivery to the ROK Navy at the end of 2008, 2 other ships of the class are expected to enter service in 2010 (ROKS Yuglok Yi I) and 2012 (was Kwon Yul, but launched as Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong). GlobalSecurity.org estimates that each vessel will cost about 1.2 trillion won (roughly $923 million equivalent).
All of this ship class’ contemporaries are classed as DDG (guided missile destroyers), but the ROK Navy has designated its KDX ships as DDH. Recent US Navy materials indicate that the KDX-III ships now use the DDG moniker.
with USN LHD-6 & CG-65
(click to view full)
Contracts are covered where they are public, and traceable directly to the KDX-III program. This is not always true, for instance with weapons that serve on more than one ship type.
June 1/11: The ROKN places the 2nd KDX-III destroyer, ROKS Yuglok Yi I, into service after 9 months of test operations, and assigns her to their Navy’s 7th fleet. South Korea’s Yonhap | NTI | China’s official Xinhua.
March 24/11: The South Korean Navy launches DDG 993 Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong, named after a leading scholar of the 16th century. Hyundai Heavy Industries SVP Park Sang-cheol is quoted as saying that:
“The Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong is quite different from other existing aegis vessels. Over 100 tons of steel are attached on both sides to prevent damage from explosions in and outside of the ship. This system for a destroyer is not seen anywhere else in the world.”
This ship will be the 3rd – and possibly the last – KDX-III destroyer. The ROKN anticipates commissioning the Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong in late 2012, following various sea trials. Operational deployment isn’t expected until mid-2013.
The question is what happens after that. The sinking of the corvette ROKN Cheonan by a North Korean submarine has shifted the ROKN’s focus away from the globe’s blue waters, and back toward its own littoral regions. Rather than continue building more KDX-III destroyers, there has been some talk in South Korea of modernizing the cheaper 5,000t KDX-II light destroyer design, giving them smaller radar and emissions profiles, and adding AEGIS radars and combat systems to give them better anti-aircraft coverage. The key differences between a “KDX-IIA” and KDX-III may end up being a tradeoff between having more modern ships in the water to handle submarines and Fast Attack Craft, vs. fleet size for potential ballistic missile defense missions. KDX-III’s SPY-1D radar has a set upgrade path, and the larger destroyer should have enough on-board power and available weight/space growth to handle that mission. It isn’t yet clear that a KDX-IIA would be able to offer all of those things, and if South Korea opts for the SPY-1F radar that equips ships like Norway’s Nansen Class frigates, the KDX-IIAs would be unlikely to ever have a ballistic missile defense role. Hyundai Heavy Industries | Lockheed Martin | Ariang TV | Forecast International | Korea Herald.
Jan 5/11: Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors in Moorestown, NJ receives a $40.6 million cost-plus-fixed-fee letter contract with performance incentives for combat systems engineering and installation and test aboard the DDG 993 Kwon Yul, the KDX-III program’s 3rd ship. Requirements include the necessary combat systems engineering, computer program development, and ship integration and test support to deliver a variant of the U.S. Navy Aegis baseline 7, phase I computer program and equipment. This contract also funds an integrated test team to assist the Korean shipyard in performing installation and testing of the Aegis Combat System.
Work will be performed in Ulsan, Korea (48%); Moorestown, NJ (44%); Kongsberg, Norway (7 ); and Dijon, France (1), and is expected to be complete by September 2012. This contract was not competitively procured by US Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington Navy Yard, DC (N00024-11-C-5103, Foreign Military Sales case KS-P-LPN).
Aug 31/10: Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering delivers the Yulgok Yi-I to the ROK Navy, as the 2nd ship of class [DDG 992]. KBS.
July 29/10: Lockheed Martin announces that ROKS Sejong the Great successfully completed a 3-week series of Combat System Ship Qualification Trials (CSSQT), at the US Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility off of Kauai, HI. During the CSSQT, the ship’s Aegis Combat System faced comprehensive surface, subsurface and anti-air warfare exercises, as well as thorough testing of the system’s tactical data link capabilities. The anti-air warfare exercises included manned aircraft raids, electronic attack scenarios, and live Standard Missile-2 and Rolling Airframe Missile air defense engagements.
March 26/10: The Pohang Class corvette ROKS Cheonan is attacked and sinks, killing 46 of the 104 crew members. Subsequent investigation shows that it was sunk by a North Korean torpedo, fired from a submarine with what was apparently complete surprise.
The attack causes South Korea to re-evaluate its defense plans. The FFX project may end up receiving a boost, at the expense of high-end ships like the KDX-III AEGIS destroyers. Wikipedia re: Cheonan | Chosun Ilbo | JoongAng Daily | NY Times || ROK ambassador to US CSIS presentation [PDF] | Korea JoongAng Daily re: force rethink.
(click to view full)
Nov 17/09: Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors in Moorestown, NJ received a $41.1 million modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-03-C-5102) for combat systems engineering (CSE), installation, and testing aboard KDX-III Ship 2. This award includes CSE, computer program development, and ship integration and test support to deliver a variant of the US Navy Aegis weapon system Baseline 7 Phase I computer program and equipment to support the construction of the 2nd Korean ship in the KDX-III class. In addition, this contract funds an integrated test team to assist the Korean shipyard in performing installation and testing of the Aegis Combat System.
This contract involves purchases for the Republic of Korea under the Foreign Military Sales Program. Work will be performed in Moorestown, NJ (53%) and Korea (47%), and is expected to be complete by December 2010. The Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington DC issued the contract.
July 20/09: The Korea Times reports that their Navy plans to establish a strategic mobile fleet of 2 destroyer-led squadrons by February 2010, in a bid to develop blue-water operational capability beyond coastal defense against a North Korean invasion.
Each mobile squadron would initially consist of a KDX-III Aegis destroyer, 3 4,500-ton KDX-II destroyers, and maritime aircraft. That would be augmented by submarines and smaller ships like the FFX frigates, once a forward naval base is finished on the southern island of Jeju, around 2014.
June 22/09: The Korea Times reports that the indigenous Hongsangeo (Red Shark) replacement for American VL-ASROC anti-submarine missiles has completed its 9-year, $80 million development program, and will begin deployment in 2010.
The state-funded Agency for Defense Development (ADD) has also worked with Hongsangeo manufacturer LIG Nex1 to develop the conventional Cheongsangeo (Blue Shark) light torpedo and Baeksangeo (White Shark) heavy torpedo.
June 3/09: As North Korea prepares to test another long-range ballistic missile, The Korea Times reveals quotes an anonymous Navy source, who said that software glitches in its missile tracking radar system may keep ROKS Sejong the Great in repairs. The ship arrived at the Naval Logistics Command in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province on May 23/09. According to their source:
“A flaw in the data transmission system linked with the missile tracking radar in the Aegis destroyer was found. Engineers from the Navy and Lockheed Martin are trying to fix the problem and reconfigure the radar system…. The Navy has actually not been able to test the Aegis radar’s maximum capability so far due to the software glitch…. We’re not sure at the moment if Sejong the Great will be able to participate in detecting a North Korean ballistic missile this time.”
Dec 22/08: ROKS Sejong the Great [DDG 991] enters active service, making it the 94th AEGIS-equipped ship fielded and making South Korea the 5th nation to field such ships.
ROKS Sejong the Great achieved the impressive feat of on-time, on-budget delivery for a first-of-class ship. It was built and tested at Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in Ulsan, Korea and commissioned in Pusan, and completed its combat system test program ahead of schedule. Lockheed Martin.
Dec 1/08: Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors in Moorestown, NJ received a $19.2 million modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-03-C-5102) for AEGIS Weapon System Inter Site Data Link (ISDL) integration efforts and delivery of the Baseline K1.1 Aegis Weapon System computer programs integrating this capability into the KDX-III Sejong the Great Class destroyers.
The contractor shall provide program management, system engineering and computer program development, ship integration and test, and technical manual services required for the development, integration, test, This contract involves purchases for the Republic of Korea under the Foreign Military Sales Program. Work will be performed in Moorestown, NJ (90%) and Ulsan, South Korea (10%), and is expected to be complete by November 2009. The Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington DC issued the contract.
Nov 14/08: The 2nd KDX-III destroyer, Yulgok Yi I [DDG 992], is launched at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) in Okpo, Korea. Yi I was a prominent Confucian scholar of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910). Korea Times | Lockheed Martin.
Nov 7/08: ROKS Sejong the Great [DDG 991] has its delivery accepted by the Republic of Korea Navy. Lockheed Martin.
(click to view full)
May 25/07: The first KDX-III destroyer, the ROKS King Sejong [DDG 991], is launched in a ceremony at Ulsan shipyard in the southeastern port city. KOIS report | Hyundai Heavy Industries release.
March 1/07: DRS Technologies Inc. announces a $7 million contract from the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) Co. Ltd. to provide FODMS Navigation Sensor Distributors for the 2nd KDX-III destroyer, ROKS Yulgok Yi I [DDG 992]
Apr 25/05: Fresh off of a win to build fiber-optic multiplexing systems for American Arleigh Burke Class DDG 110-112 AEGIS destroyers, DRS Technologies Inc.’s EW & Network Systems unit in Buffalo, NY won a $9.2 million contract to build a fiber-optic network system for the Republic of Korea Navy’s related KDX-III King Sejong Class AEGIS destroyer.
DRS EW&NS will build the Fiber Optic Data Multiplex System (FODMS), a general purpose, dual-network system that provides data and integrated communications among propulsion and power control systems, steering, navigation sensors, weapons systems, alarms, indicators, bridge systems and the Aegis combat system, and ensures interoperability between legacy systems and off-the-shelf systems. Work will include the development of design documentation and installation drawing, installation and performance testing of the system. Work will commence immediately, and continue through January 2010.
The Special & Naval Shipbuilding Division of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. in Ulsan, Republic of Korea, awarded the contract. DRS’ news release noted that the company also expects to receive future contracts of this nature, as the ROKN deploys additional KDX-III destroyers.
June 26/03: The U.S. Navy today awarded a $267.5 million contract to Lockheed Martin to provide combat systems engineering, computer program development, and ship integration and test support, as part of the U.S Navy and Lockheed Martin’s responsibility to provide the Aegis Weapon System for its KDX-III Destroyer Program. Lockheed Martin’s release adds that the Korean Navy selected the U.S Navy and Lockheed Martin to equip KDX-III with AEGIS “in late 2002.”
June 18/03: Lockheed Martin and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) announce a $21 million contract today for the KDX-III destroyers’ the anti-submarine warfare control system. The contract expands a trans-Atlantic naval business relationship that began with work on Norway’s F310 Fridtjof Nansen Class AEGIS frigates.
June 17/03: Lockheed Martin announces an initial $67 million contract to continue production, delivery and installation of the MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) for the U.S. Navy. An additional contract option of $129 million to support of Korea’s KDX-III shipbuilding program could raise the contract’s total value to $196 million. United Defense, LP of Aberdeen, SD (now BAE Systems), will be issued a major subcontract to produce major subassemblies for the MK 41 VLS, as will Metric Systems in Fort Walton Beach, FL.
July 25/02: Lockheed Martin wins the contract to provide South Korea’s navy with weapons control systems for the 3 KDX-III destroyers, beating European rival Thales SA. The KDX-III will be equipped with the SPY-1 passive phased array radar and AEGIS combat system, rather than Thales APAR active array radar that serves on the German and Dutch F124 air defense frigates.
March 18/02: The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announces [PDF] South Korea’s formal request to buy 3 Lockheed Martin AEGIS air defense systems, worth a potential US$1.2 billion, to arm the ROKN’s 3 new KDX-III destroyers.
The order will include 3 AEGIS Shipboard Combat Systems, 3 AN/UPX-29 (V) Aircraft Identification Monitoring System MK XII Identification Friend or Foe systems, 3 shipboard gridlock systems, 3 Common Data Link Management System/Joint Tactical Distribution Systems, 3 MK 34 gun weapon systems, 3 Navigation Sensor System Interfaces; plus testing and combat system engineering technical assistance, computer program maintenance, U.S. Government and contractor engineering and technical assistance, testing, publications and documentation, training, spare and repair parts, and other related support.
The principal contractors will be Lockheed Martin Naval Electronic Systems and Support of Morristown, NJ; Raytheon Company in Andover, MA; General Dynamics Armament Systems in Burlington, VT; and Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics Systems and Support in Eagan, MN. One or more proposed industrial offset agreements may be related to the proposed sale, but that hasn’t been finalized. If the sale does go through, South Korea will need 50 contractor representatives for approximately 5 years, to support integration and testing of the AEGIS Combat Systems.
Additional Readings
- Republic of Korea Navy – KDX-III Page. Includes both English and Korean text. Note comparison of the USA’s Arleigh Burke, Japan’s Kongo/Atago, and Korea’s KDX-III AEGIS destroyers.
- Deagel – KDX-III / DDH-III Sejongdaewang
- Wikipedia – King Sejong the Great class destroyer
- GlobalSecurity.org – KDX-III Destroyer. Incomplete, and the pictures are incorrect.
