South Koreans to Order Three More Aegis Equipped Warships

On December 10, the Joint Chiefs of Staff held a council, conducted by chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Choi Yun-hee, and decided to secure three additional new Aegis destroyers by the mid-2020s.

Our Navy has strengthened its military strength with three Aegis ships – Sejongdaewang Ham in 2008, Yulgok Yi Yi Ham in 2010 and Seoae Ryu Seong Ryong Ham in 2012. If the Joint Chiefs of Staff secures the budget and uses it to strengthen military strength according to deliberation and decision on the Aegis, our navy will possess six Aegis ships in total.

“We’ll expand our ballistic missile detection and tracking, and anti-submarine capability to prepare for asymmetric threats from North Korea, such as nuclear weapons, missiles and submarines, and their local provocation. In real wartime, we will significantly improve our area anti-aircraft defense and striking power against surface ships and ground high-payoff targets. Moreover, for the potential threat around the Korean Peninsula, we will improve our reaction capability on the ocean sovereignty defense,” it was stated in a briefing on the results of the joint chiefs of staff’s council on the same day.

Compared to the existing Aegis destroyer (KDX-III), the new ones that will be additionally secured are loaded combat systems used for ballistic missile detection and tracking, and configured with the required operational capability to offer improved detection capability of submarines and submergence vehicles with the integrated sonar system.

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