KDX-III Destroyer
The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) has embarked on a substantial shipbuilding program for its Korean Destroyer Experimental (KDX). It is a three-phased program consisting of three individual classes of ships: KDX-I (3800 tons) with Initial Operational Capability (IOC) of 1998, KDX-II (5000 tons) with IOC 2002, and KDX-III (7000-9000 tons) with IOC 2007/2008. Each phase gets more ambitious with respect to ship size, sensors, and weapons. The USN has sold a substantial amount of materials and technical support for the KDX-I and KDX-II ships.
KDX-III will probably be a larger (7000 tons or greater), more "Aegis-like" ship (Aegis Combat System with the ship incorporating certain Low Observables (LO/CLO) technology). The KDX-III' standard displacement is 7,000t, while its full load dispalcement would be above 9,000t.
Three or four KDX-III hulls can be expected. After the first ship is completed in 2008, the ministry expects to deploy two other KDX- III destroyers in 2010 and 2012, respectively. By one estimate each vessel will cost about 1.2 trillion won ($923 million). The entire project, including the ships themselves, is expected to cost 2.8 trillion won by other estimates. The ROK KDX-III destroyer is intended to be a multi-purpose destroyer featuring anti-air warfare, anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare and tactical ballistic missile defense capabilities.
This platform will enable the ROKN to successfully defend the maritime areas around the Korean peninsula from air, surface, and subsurface threats, and will increase interoperability with the USN.
The Republic of Korea Ministry of Defense announced on Oct. 25, 2001, that Thales Naval Nederland was one of the two final candidates selected for the combat system of the KDX-III Destroyer program for the ROK Navy. The other candidate is Lockheed Martin. The selection was for the second phase of the procurement process, referred to as the Test & Evaluation and Negotiation phase. Other combat systems that were being considered by the ROKN were Sampson (British Aerospace) and APAR (Signaal).
Thales Naval Nederland has offered a different solution for the combat system, the APAR Combat System. The combat system proposed by Thales Naval Nederland for the KDX-III destroyer programme includes the APAR multifunction radar, the SMART-L volume search radar, the SIRIUS infrared search and track system (IRST), MIRADOR tracking and observation system, as well as the combat direction system with associated software and interfaces to other equipment, including the combat system integration responsibility with respect to GFE. The ROK Navy was clearly considering both solutions. Final selection by the ROK MND was anticipated in June 2002.
On 18 March 2002, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of the possible sale of three Lockheed Martin Aegis air defence systems, worth a potential US$1.2 billion, to arm the Republic of Korea Navy’s three new KDX-III destroyers. Aegis is very important for KDX-III. The ROKN is made a very strong effort to purchase the Aegis Combat System (baseline 7 phase 1) for KDX-III. The destroyer has been referred to as Aegis Destroyer, after Lockheed Martin's Aegis system. However, this is just one of the possible combat system solutions.
On 25 July 2002 Lockheed Martin won the contract to provide South Korea's navy with weapons control systems for three destroyers, beating European rival Thales SA. The Korean Navy selected the U.S Navy and Lockheed Martin to provide the Aegis Weapon System for its KDX-III Destroyer Program in late 2002. The three KDX-III Destroyers, equipped with the Aegis Weapon System, will allow the Korean Navy to successfully defend the maritime areas around the Korean Peninsula from air, surface and underwater threats. In addition, the KDX-III Destroyers will increase interoperability with the U.S. Navy.
The first vessel is scheduled to be operational in the year 2008. The Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard is currently working on the basic design of the platform, but the actual decision who is going to build the three vessels won't be taken until 2003/2004 after competition. The most likely candidates are Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Hanjin Heavy Industries.
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