With the aim of strengthening its air defense capabilities, South Korea will proceed with the purchase of new SM-3 missiles from the United States to equip the AEGIS destroyer fleets operated by its Navy, while its Link-11 data link systems will also be upgraded to the more capable Link-22 standard. The operation in question has already been approved by the Defense Project Promotion Committee, which indicated that an amount close to 506 million dollars will be invested to carry it out through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, translating into the arrival of between 20 and 30 missiles.
It is worth noting in this regard that South Korea has been interested for years in acquiring this type of missile, specifically to equip the new KDX-III Batch II destroyers, which constitute one of the pillars on which the country’s Navy is relying for its future force projection. In detail, this is a more advanced variant of the original KDX-III Sejong the Great model, of which three units exist within the service and whose construction has been carried out by the local companies Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. These are the ships named ROKS Sejong the Great, ROKS Yulgok Yi I, and ROKS Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong.
At present, South Korea has already launched and commissioned the first of the three units that make up this more advanced KDX-III variant, specifically the destroyer ROKS Jeongjo the Great, whose launch ceremony took place in 2022 and whose integration into the Navy’s ranks occurred in 2024. On the other hand, it can be mentioned that the second ship of the class is in an advanced stage of construction and is expected to be commissioned toward the end of this year. The third and last of that batch, ROKS Dasan Jeong Yak-yong, was already launched last September and is currently in a sea-trial phase prior to official delivery.
Finally, if we briefly review the different types of armament integrated into the KDX-III Batch II design, to which the SM-3s would now be added, we find a range composed of a total of 88 vertical launch system (VLS) cells, a 127 mm naval gun, a 30 mm Phalanx CIWS point-defense system, and 8 SSM-700K Haeseong anti-ship missiles. It should be noted that of the aforementioned total of 88 cells, 48 are of the Mk 41 VLS type, through which the SM-3 missiles could be deployed. Of the remaining number, 24 cells are of the K-VLS II type for larger, longer-range missiles, while 16 belong to the K-VLS model, which will be used for the deployment of locally made K-SAAM missiles.
Images used for illustrative purposes
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