Based on what was revealed by official sources, in the coming days the Navy of South Korea will carry out the launching of the ROKS Dasan Jeong Yak-yong, third and last guided missile destroyer of the KDX-III Batch II class. The ceremony will be carried out at the facilities of the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard, in Ulsan, thus consolidating the sixth unit equipped with the modern AEGIS combat management system launched by the Asian country, considering the ships that make up both Batch I as well as the new II.
The new destroyer, with a displacement of 8,200 tons, will be part of the core of the Korea Air and Missile Defense System (KAMD), and will represent the most modern version of the Sejong the Great class of the South Korean Navy. Among its main improvements is the vertical launch system for missiles of local development (KVLS), allowing the use of SM-3 missiles. This technological evolution turns the three units of Batch II into a central component of the South Korean strategy of defense against long-range aerial and missile threats.
At this point it is important to bring up that the first of them, known as the ROKS Jeongjo the Great (DDG-995), was the first of this batch to be launched and delivered in November 2024, marking the beginning of the incorporation of this new series of destroyers. Meanwhile, the second destroyer of the program is in an advanced state of construction, and its delivery is scheduled for the end of 2026, while the ROKS Dasan Jeong Yak-yong, whose construction began in October 2024, is estimated to be incorporated around 2027.
General characteristics and objectives of the class
Built by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, the KDX-III Batch II presents itself as an evolution and expansion of capabilities with respect to the ships of Batch I of the original Sejong the Great class, comprised of the first units incorporated into the Navy of Korea during the first half of the 2010 decade.
This expansion of capabilities, which revolves around the incorporation of the most modern version of the AEGIS combat management system of U.S. origin, has its counterpart in the increase in the dimensions and displacement of this series of three new guided missile destroyers.
Expressed in numbers, from the 166 meters in length and 7,650 tons of displacement of Batch I, Batch II presents 170 meters in length and 8,200 tons of displacement —and at full load would reach 12,000 tons.
The increase in dimensions translates into expanded capabilities to carry out missions ranging from surveillance and control of maritime space, to antisurface, antiair, and antisubmarine warfare. Even, looking to the future, hand in hand with the development of new ballistic missiles.
*Photographs used for illustration purposes
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