Article Posted on : - Aug 31, 2012

The new Aegis destroyer. A DAPA photo

SEOUL (BNS): The South Korean Navy has received the third Aegis guided missile destroyer from the country's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) on August 30.

The new warship, named Ryu Seong-ryong, is the 7,600-ton King Sejong the Great class destroyer equipped with US-made state-of-the-art Aegis air defence system.

Built by South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries in September 2009, the warship was launched in March 2011.

The destroyer is expected to be fully operational in the Navy by mid-2013 after undergoing nine months of final operational tests, DAPA said, adding that the new warship will strengthen the strategic operation of the Korean Navy.

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, has been built with air defence, land attack, anti-shipping, and anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

The 166-meter-long destroyer can carry about 120 missiles and torpedoes in its vertical launch system. It can also carry two mid-sized helicopters and sail at a top speed of 30 knots within a range of 1,000 kilometers.

The South Korean Navy aims to form strategic mobile squadrons in future which will include all three KDX-III class 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.