SEOUL — South Korea’s Navy is planning to equip its Aegis destroyers with the up-to-date SM-6 extended range active missile being developed by Raytheon and the U.S. Navy to thwart incoming ballistic and cruise missiles from North Korea, the top Navy officer said last week.
The plan is part of efforts to develop the nation’s independent low-tier missile shield aimed at intercepting low-flying short- and medium-range missiles from the North, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Song Young-moo said.
“We are considering buying the SM-6 ship-to-air missile from the U.S. to equip our Aegis destroyers, including the Sejong the Great launched last year,’’ Song told reporters Jan. 16. “The introduction of the SM-6 missile is a core part of building a low-altitude intercept shield against North Korean missiles.”
The United States gave a positive response to the Navy’s pursuit of the SM-6 missile, Song added.
The SM-6, or Standard Missile-6, with a range of 320 to 400 kilometers, is expected to help intercept the North’s incoming ballistic missiles at an earlier stage, Navy officials said.
Previously, the South Korean Navy wanted to buy more than 200 ship-to-air SM-2 Block IIIA/B missiles with a range of 170 kilometers to equip its advanced KDX series of destroyers.
“We haven’t made a final decision yet on the purchase of SM-6 missiles because they are still being developed now,” a Navy official said on condition of anonymity. “We’ll keep reviewing the feasibility of both SM-2 Block IIIA/B and SM-6 missiles.”
The official stressed, however, the potential purchase of the extended range SM-4 missile has nothing to do with the U.S.-led ballistic missile defense network, in which Japan is actively participating against possible attacks from North Korea.
South Korea has not taken part in the U.S. missile shield because of financial constraints and possible anti-U.S. sentiments. It also does not want to look to provoke neighboring countries such as North Korea and China.
For use as an anti-air warfare and theater air-defense missile, the SM-6 is expected to provide extended-range anti-air warfare capability against a multitude of targets, including aircraft, land-attack and anti-ship cruise missiles in flight, either over sea or land, missile experts said.
With its active radar system the SM-6 is also expected to engage over-the-horizon targets using a future networked fire-control data system for targeting, they said.
South Korea will launch two more 7,600-ton KDX-III ships, equipped with Lockheed Martin-built Aegis combat system and state-of-the-art anti-air, land-attack and anti-sup missiles, by 2012.
That’s when South Korea’s low-altitude missile defense shield, dubbed the Korea air and missile defense (KAMD) network system, will be fully operational.
The KAMD will involve Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) interceptors, ship-based air defense systems and a ballistic missile early warning radar to be built by the state-run Agency for Defense Development with technological support from foreign countries, military sources said.
The terminal-phase defense aims to intercept targets about 40 kilometers north of Seoul.
To that end, the country’s defense procurement agency approved the $1 billion SAM-X project last September to purchase 48 second-hand PAC-2 launch modules, radars and missiles, including the Patriot Anti-Tactical Missile and Guidance Enhanced Missile Plus (GEM+) from Germany beginning this year.
The agency plans to buy Raytheon’s ground-control equipment to support two Patriot system battalions.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3320071&C=asiapac

Check out this: http://bemil.chosun.com/brd/view.html?tb=B...2&num=40923

Good way to fight fire with fire. Use American weapons on Americans.

Come on, F-22s and F-35s?

F-22 might be a bit of a push (though not impossible) but why not F-35? LM has repeatedly offered the F-35 to Korea on the early production slots.

Why not the F-35? There is no reason why Korea shouldn't have them. F-22? Imo, ultimately the US will sell the F-22 abroad, but only after the US thinks others are close to catching up with the F-22's technology, and America is reasonably close to rolling a sixth generation aircraft off the production lines.

S Korean govt is already considering purchasing F-35 type B as S Korean navy is preparing for producing smaller aircraft carriers and more amphibious landing ships.

Korea doesn't want to get left behind by China and Japan. China is developing its stealth fighter (which would most likely be inferior to F-35) while Japan has continued to shoot for F-22A without success. In that sense, I guess Seoul wanted a dedicated higher-performance air superiority fighter as their inventory mainly consists of multiroles. (Minus the F-4Es, which are outdated and need to be replaced.)



Not for a few decades, as ROK has no experience in building aircraft carriers as well as the fact that if Korea gets one, then both Japan and China are going to jump onto the bandwagon.

That's a baseless rumor. There has been no indication at all that either ROKN or the ROKAF has been looking into the F-35B. There is no carrier program for the navy on the immediate future, and only 2nd hull of Dokdo class is being considered. Dokdo herself does not have an impressive aviation support capability, making F-35B purchase useless.

http://maritimeasia.blogspot.com/2007/09/p...se-carrier.html

...and? I know what the author of the blog is trying to say. Of course th company is seeking technical assistance. It's related to potential future (very much future) ROKN carrier program as well as foreign export oppertunities. Of course ROKN DESIRES a carrier--they have said as much on many occasions (unoffically of course).

I am speaking about the realities here. There is no room for an aircraft carrier in the current defense white paper, nor is there a plan to build one on the current Defense 2020 reform program. Dokdo itself, by her design and size, CANNOT accomodate enough fixed-wing aircrafts to label it a carrier. For one, the aviation hanger can only fit 4 medium-sized helicopters with the wing and the rotors folded. That would constitute about enough room for ONE F-35B Lightning II fighter. Then what? Park rest of the aircrafts on the deck? Completely expose it to the elements without enough room or the facility to service it? Secondly, due to the presence of a well-dock, the shape of her hull, and the location of the screw renders Dokdo a relatively slow ship at 23kt max speed. Not only is speed important in getting the ship out of trouble, it is also important factor when engaging in flight operations with heavily-loaded fighters.

Dokdo CAN be refitted with a ski-jump to operate STVOL aircrafts, but that doesn't mean it will be effective at it. At the very least, the aviation facility of the current ship must be vastly expanded to keep up with the intense demand of operating fixed-wing aircrafts aboard a ship. If possible, the aviation deck and the vehicle deck must be completely seperated, which would add 4000~6000ton worth of displacement on the current LPX design. It's a major modification to the design, which would take years of work. The current rumors suggest, however, that the second ship of the Dokdo class will be built without much change in the overall design, and the third of the class will be delayed by several years.

And yes, it is true that neither ROKN nor the ROKAF is seriously looking into te expensive F-35B when there appears to be no carrier on the horizon. The Air Force FX program to acquire up to 60 5th gen fighter will begin only in 2015, and will look almost certainly exclusively at the F-35A version. ROKN is too cash-strapped to consider the F-35B, much less an entire aircraft carrier.

Perhaps when China activates its first carrier, but not before that.

I think it's safe to say you know more than I do on this subject.

Can we get some nukes? Screw these little toys.