Korea launches today its first Aegis warship [Chosun Ilbo, Korean], the King Sejong the Great. Korea becomes the fifth nation in the world to possess an Aegis-equipped warship, behind the US, Japan, Spain and Norway. Norway’s Aegis ship doesn’t really count, however, because it’s ugly. Armed with 32 “Cheonnyong” cruise missiles capable of striking ground targets 500km away and capable of tracking 900 targets at the same time, the King Sejong might be the most advanced warship in East Asia. It’ll go into active duty in a year, after trials.
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20 Comments
Congratulations Korea, for participating in and accelerating the Asian Arms Race. The Military Industrial Complex continues to thrive and is fed by fear created by nations, politicians and sales rep of this dark dirty yet profitable industry. And to the other nations, an A plus for your roles in this “empire of dirt”.
Actually, Korea didn’t accelerate the Asian Arms Race by launching King Sejong, since Japan already has 5 AEGIS destroyers. However, Korea did get itself sucked into the Arms Race, when the Korean MND decided to spend what little money it had to play catch up with the Japanese.
Now, if the odds are correct the Japanese are going to build 5 more. Yes, you are correct that Korea was “sucked” or decided to play catch up….
South Korea’s new fancy ships have set sail? How long do you figure it will take before North Korea throws us another curve ball?
Even if the DPRK were to throw a naval curve ball, those fancy ships weren’t be of much use, because they are too big for littoral warfare.
I think it’s funny the Norskie’s are calling a 5,121-ton vessel a “frigate.” I read on Strategy Page that “destroyer” is now politically incorrect in Europe. We can’t have our ships destroy anything, can we?
#5: “Even if the DPRK were to throw a naval curve ball, those fancy ships weren’t be of much use, because they are too big for littoral warfare.”
Say that to to the Nork MiG-23 driver who has the unenviable task of trying to get anyhwere near this ship.
Actually, I believe the Koreans are preparing for the “invasion against some rocks” by the ever-evil Japanese.
You see, we have a special appetite for rocks. It’s in the genes. Nothing can stop us.
Every time I see a rock, I feel this evil impulse inside me……
Wedge,
You’ve got a point there. I’ve worked on something that was literally picking out American planes and helicopters 10 miles before they even came close to target during a US-Canada ‘war game’. My buddies even videotaped the faces of the pilots flying the jets for bragging rights (yup, headshots of guys 10 miles away). I’m sure the technology used on the Aegis is more advanced than what I’ve worked on…and the USAF is by far more technologically advanced than the NK air force.
OK, that was pretty funny.
#6:”Say that to to the Nork MiG-23 driver who has the unenviable task of trying to get anyhwere near this ship.”
The NKs aren’t stupid enough to send a MiG-23 against the King Sejong, but they are smart enough to know that there is nothing much that the King Sejong can do if and when one of their patrol boats gets into a knife fight with the SK patrol boats near the NLL.
Sure there is. It can take potshots at the patrol boats with 5-inch guns for a while, ’til the captain gets pissed enough to hose a Air Koryo jetliner with an SM3 and claim he thought it was a MiG.
Not long, apparently.
Yes, now the North has fired off missiles. Wow, we sure saw alot of benefits with that last round of talks. Bent over backwards to give them back their ill-gotten 25 million and paid them 80 million for a short train ride across the DMZ and how do they respond? Fire some more missiles when the South gets delivery of a nice new ship. We’re batting zero here, as per usual when dealing with the North.
‘You see, we have a special appetite for rocks. It’s in the genes. Nothing can stop us.
Every time I see a rock, I feel this evil impulse inside me……’ tomojiro
‘OK, that was pretty funny.’ robert
why do you ridicule koreans about dokto? surely someone who has the kind of knowledge you do about korea would know this is about more than just two rocks in the ocean. koreans can’t ignore japan’s claim to korean territory. you know what happened the last time korea did that, right?
“why do [posters here] ridicule [K}oreans about dokto?…”
Because this is a perceptive bunch. The way many Koreans in general carry on about Dokdo is symptomatic of much larger issues than a couple of rocks — issue that relate directly to the international relations of NE Asia.
If ROK citizens don’t wanted to be mocked about Dokdo, but its retention is deemed vital to the national interest, then they should just hang on to it while keeping quiet about the issue.
“If ROK citizens don’t wanted to be mocked about Dokdo, but its retention is deemed vital to the national interest, then they should just hang on to it while keeping quiet about the issue.”
Or laugh about it as Canadians do about the Hans Island dispute with Danemark (some, possibly poking fun at Korea’s ‘outpost’ on Dokdo, have said that Canada should build a Tim Horton’s on the island to serve as proof of its Canadianess).
The details of the new Aegis ship’s patrol area, as well as the specific combat instructions to its captain, will be of enormous interest, though (I speculate) these details will remain secret and therefore unknown to us plebians.
I suppose (assuming fully operational status)that the ship can maintain a radar watch 360 degrees — but surely the combat information center of the ship will have to be “focused” on one particular “threat” area.
What do you suppose the instructions will be to the captain of the ship from the ROK naval staff? I mean in secret, aside from public political posturing.
Being a stranger to Asia and Korea (other than thru these blogs), I’m find myself subject to a truly uncertain sense of wonderment. Will the ROK Navy actually expend precious resources maintaining a combat radar watch with a readiness to fire towards Japan — 24/7/365?
Will the ROK Navy patrol an Aegis cruiser in the “East Sea” during some future period of tension between US/Japan and DPRK, with the North Koreans once again conducting “missile tests”? Will both sides be left to wonder as to which side the ROK Aegis cruiser is prepared to track and fire upon?
I don’t know the mechanics of Aegis interceptor missile fire. Can the ROK Aegis missile system successfully intercept a Scud missile trajectory “from the side”, or does it have to be a more or less “head-on” shot?
The sea between Japan and the Korean peninsula.
The AP reporter seems to go out of his way to not name the body of water, using the circumlocution twice. Call it the Sea of Japan, which everyone knows, and be spammed by the VANKers. Call it East Sea and leave the readers wondering east of what?
But Mr. Chang shall not get off easily. It should have been The sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan.
#17. Paul H.
First of all, the recently launched Aegis does not have the ability to intercept ballistic missiles. Unlike the Japanese, the Koreans have opted not to equip their ship for BMD.
As for the mission of the destroyer, let’s look over the possibilities. According to the Korean media and military sites, the KD-3 class Aegis class destroyers will provide long-range air defence for the battle group of the Strategic Mobile Fleet.
I find the above mission statement a bit ambigious and fanciful. The battlegroup in question will consist of the Dokdo, 2 KD-3s and 4 KD-2s. That’s seven ships. Not counting the logistical requirements, it will be very expensive for the ROKN to regularly deploy the entire battlegroup. So my guess is, once a year, for a month or two it will tool around Asia just for show. Or it may never deploy at all. Let’s face it there are currently no missions that will require deployment of the entire group.
Which leaves us with the possibility of the KD-3 deploying overseas in support of the USN. But in reality, with the exception of going to Hawaii for the RIMPAC exercises and taking naval cadets on training cruises, I doubt the destroyer will be deploying overseas on any actual operations.
Which leaves us with two possibilities;
1. The ship becomes a white elephant, and remains tied up in port like the Thai aircraft carrier
2. It spends its time tooling around Korean waters like an oversized and overarmed coast guard cutter.
Which brings us to your theory. Yes, as stated above, there is a possibility that the destroyer will become an expensive radar picket, tooling around the seas of Korea, feeding its radar data via data link to the Naval Command Center and the MCRC. A big waste for something that cost one billion dollars.
Which brings us to this question. If the main purpose of this ship is to carry out radar picket missions and pretty much show off in front of the Chinese and Japanese, then isn’t it much cheaper and better to spend the 3 billions or so on weapon systems that matter the most?
#1 cjm, are you for real? I think the Patchouli oil may have seeped into your brain. With your line of logic we should take down traffic lights, seatbelts, door locks and every other safety device including the DMZ. Please…..
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[...] The timing of this probably has less to do the six party talks and more to do with the launching of the new highly advanced South Korean naval destroyer. [...]