Article Posted on : - Mar 10, 2011

The first KDX-III class warship, Sejong the Great.

SEOUL (BNS): The South Korean Navy will launch its third Aegis guided missile destroyer this month, the official media reported Thursday.

The new warship, named Yu Seong-ryong, will be the third of the 7,600-ton King Sejong the Great class of destroyers which are equipped with US-made state-of-the-art Aegis air defence systems.

The new ship, being built by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries, is scheduled to be commissioned into service in 2012.

The first and second destroyers of the series have already been commissioned into the Navy in 2008 and 2010 respectively.

The new class of warships, also called KDX-III, have been built with air defence, land attack, anti-shipping, and anti-submarine warfare capabilities. Beside the Aegis Combat System, they are being armed with a wide range of US, European and Korean weapons and missile systems.

The South Korean Navy aims to form strategic mobile squadrons in future which will include all three KDX-III warships, its predecessor the KDX-II Gwanggaeto the Great-class destroyers, Dokdo-class landing platform vessels, Type 214 submarines and other support vessels along with anti-submarine Lynx helicopters.

The squadrons will help the country secure its maritime borders and conduct blue-water operations independently as well as jointly with its allies.