South Korea’s Navy to arm its latest frigates with tactical ship-to-land missiles

[Zarvan]

South Korea’s Navy will arm its latest frigates with tactical missiles that can strike deep into North Korea, a military source said Sunday.

The plan calls for arming the Incheon-class ships with land-attack missiles that have a range of 150-200 kilometers. The missiles, to be loaded onto the ships starting in September, will allow the frigates the ability to attack key targets in the communist country’s interior from the sea.

“Initially, the plan was to arm batch 2 Incheon-class ships with the tactical missiles, but the government, after conducting feasibility studies, decided to retrofit the batch 1 ships,” the official, who declined to be identified, said. The missiles will be housed in angled canister launchers on deck.

The first batch consisting of six frigates have an empty displacement of some 2,300 tons and were launched starting in 2011. The sixth and last frigate of batch 1 is undergoing sea trials and will join the fleet early next year. The second batch of ships will be heavier with an empty displacement of 2,800 tons.

The frigates that are replacing the aging Ulsan-class frigates and Pohang-class corvettes have a 127-millimeter main gun with point defense being handled by the 20 mm Phalanx system. It also has Rolling Airframe Missiles, or RAMs, for short-range anti-aircraft defense and employs SSM-700K to deal with surface threats as well as torpedoes to destroy submarines.

The decision to arm the relatively small coastal defense ships with tactical missiles comes as Seoul is moving to give the Navy greater flexibility not only to engage enemy ships but also to respond to diverse threats.

“The tactical missiles will greatly enhance the combined fighting ability of South Korea’s armed forces and add another layer of deterrence against North Korean aggression,” he said.

South Korea has already been arming its tactical land-attack missiles on its larger destroyers to take out key North Korean targets in case of conflict. It has, moreover, been moving to upgrade the fighting capability of existing ships with new weapons systems.

The Navy said it plans to deploy short-range anti-aircraft missiles with a range of 20 km on its latest patrol boats that are already armed with anti-ship missiles.

http://defence-blog.com/news/south-...ates-with-tactical-ship-to-land-missiles.html

 

[Anjo]

Interesting piece of news there. The Philippine Navy is ordering 2 of these frigates(batch 1) but with its weapons systems still being decided. Would be interesting to see these missiles on these ships patrolling the South China Sea.

 

[Penguin]

FFX-II will have 2x8 K-VLS cells, to deploy the Cheolmae-2 medium-range air defense missile, Hong Sang Eo anti-submarine rocket, and possibly the Hyunmoo-3 series of land attack cruise missiles. Nonon of these frigates is going to sail without any surface to air missiles . This particular missile weighs 400 kg (880 lb), is 4.61 m (15.1 ft) long, with a body diameter of 27.5 cm (10.8 in), which is substantially bigger than ESSM and close to Standard SM2MR. Meanwhile, K-VLS is very similar to Mk41 selfdefence (shortest) variant. So I doubt quadpacking or even duopacking is feasible. With just 16 cells, I doubt that more than 4-8 missiles other than SAM will be carried in practice, unless the frigate is accompanied by several larger consorts, to provide SAM cover. More efficient would be to use a larger destroyer (with 48 cells K-VLS besides 80 cells worth of MK41s on KD-3 and 32 K-vls + 32 Mk41 on KD-2) to carry more land attack missiles, and have a 2-3 FFX-II frigates with K-SAM and K- ASROC as escorts.

Good missile mix (if any) would be 12 SAM + 4 ASROC

Deawoo's proposal FFX-II.

 

[Penguin]

DAPA launched ROK Navy's FFX Batch-III Anti-Air Warfare frigate program. DAPA said the programme to develop Batch III Incheon-class frigates would commence from 2016 following an open-tender process to select a prime contractor.

South Korea announces frigate and missile development programmes
Jon Grevatt, Bangkok - IHS Jane's Defence Industry
02 June 2015

http://themess.net/forum/military-d...ii-anti-air-warfare-frigate-program#post27202

Aside from the main mast and radar, I don't see much difference ...

FFX-B3 MFR Mast with Hanwha Thales/ADD Panoramic IRST

Size comparison between the 3,251t full load HDF-3000 of FFX-I and the approx. 4,000t full load HDF-3500 proposal for FFX-III.

 

[Basel]

DAPA launched ROK Navy's FFX Batch-III Anti-Air Warfare frigate program. DAPA said the programme to develop Batch III Incheon-class frigates would commence from 2016 following an open-tender process to select a prime contractor.

South Korea announces frigate and missile development programmes
Jon Grevatt, Bangkok - IHS Jane's Defence Industry
02 June 2015

http://themess.net/forum/military-d...ii-anti-air-warfare-frigate-program#post27202

Aside from the main mast and radar, I don't see much difference ...

FFX-B3 MFR Mast with Hanwha Thales/ADD Panoramic IRST

Can Pakistan have customize version of this beast from SK? If yes, then what sanction proof sensor and weapons SK can offer?

 

[Penguin]

Can Pakistan have customize version of this beast from SK? If yes, then what sanction proof sensor and weapons SK can offer?

Define 'sanction proof sensors and weapons'. SK makes a naval SAM, ASROC, LAM, Torps etc. It makes its own electronics. But, as should be evident, this in conjunction with e.g. Thales.

 

[Basel]

Define 'sanction proof sensors and weapons'. SK makes a naval SAM, ASROC, LAM, Torps etc. It makes its own electronics. But, as should be evident, this in conjunction with e.g. Thales.

What I meant that systems & spare support which are not blocked during war or hostilities, as US have done in past with Pakistan.

 

[Penguin]

What I meant that systems & spare support which are not blocked during war or hostilities, as US have done in past with Pakistan.

There are no sanction proof systems, unless you obtain them from partners that are unscrupulous. I don't know why you would focus on US. I've indicated the involement of Thales. Thales spans multiple EU nations.

Source: SIPRI Arms Transfers Database
Between 2000 and 2015, Pakistan has obtained arms and system from Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany (FRG), Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States totaling 12,797 US$ m. at constant (1990) prices.

Between 1980 and 2000, Australia, Belarus, Canada, China, France, Germany (FRG), Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Korea, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Soviet Union, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States delivered 13,246 US$ m. at constant (1990) prices.

China, France, Sweden and US have consistently delivered during both periods.