From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

KDX-III class destroyer
Class Overview
Class Type	Guided missile destroyer
Class Name	In honor of King Sejong the Great (세종대왕)
Preceded By	KDX-II-class destroyer
Succeeded By	N/A
General characteristics
Cost:	~US$923 million
Displacement:	~7,700 tonnes hull displacement ~10,000 ± 290 tonnes full load
Length:	544 ft (165.9 m)
Beam:	69 ft (21 m)
Draft:	46 ft (14 m)
Propulsion:	4 General Electric LM2500 COGAG; two shafts, 100,000 total shaft horsepower (75 MW)
Speed:	30+ knots (56+ km/h)
Range:	5,500 nautical miles
Complement:	300-400 crew members
Armament:	• One 5 inch (127mm/L62) Mk-45 Mod 4 (lightweight gun) • One 30 mm Goalkeeper CIWS • One RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launcher • SM-2 Block IIIB in Mk. 41 80-cell Vertical Launching System • Four SSM-700K Hae Sung (해성--"Sea Star") long-range anti-ship missile launchers with four missiles in each launcher • 32 Hyunmoo IIIC (현무-3--"Guardian of the Northern Sky") land-attack cruise missiles + 16 K-ASROC, known as Hong Sahng-uh (홍상어--"Red Shark") in domestic 48-cell Vertical Launching System • 32 K745 LW Cheong Sahng-uh (청상어--"Blue Shark") torpedoes
Aircraft:	• Two Westland Lynx Mk.99 ASW helicopters with full accomandations including hangars

The King Sejong the Great class destroyers (Hangul: 세종대왕급 구축함), also known as KDX-III, are guided missile destroyers for the Republic of Korea Navy by Hyundai Heavy Industries. On May 25th, 2007, the ROK Navy has commissioned the ship for test run. It will be deployed for naval operations in 2009 after one-and-a-half years of test operations. ROK Navy plans to build up to 6 more of the same type, 2 ships in each side of the ocean.

Contents 1 Background 2 Armaments 2.1 Missile 3 Capabilities 4 Equipment 5 Hull names 5.1 Ships in the class 6 See also 7 External links

The ship features the advanced Aegis combat system (Baseline 7 Phase 1 - Advanced Processor (4800 MIPS) and Distributed Processor (1600 MIPS)) combined with AN/SPY-1D multi-function radar antennas. Onboard computer system's control is provided by 5,000 CPUs using Intel's X86 architecture, with the main operating system being RedHawk Linux.

The King Sejong the Great class is the third phase of the Republic of Korea Navy's KDX (Korean Destroyer eXperimental) program, a substantial shipbuilding program, which is geared at enhancing ROKN's ability to successfully defend the maritime areas around Korea from various modes of threats as well as becoming a blue-water navy.

Although the design is derived from the Arleigh Burke class, and sometimes called "Super Burke", due to larger fire unit and enhanced sea-to-land attack capabilities the KDX-III should not be considered as a variant of Arleigh Burke class destroyer, but as an entirely separate "King Sejong the Great class" destroyer.^{[citation needed]} Capability comparison to Ticonderoga class cruisers could even raise questions whether classification of these ships as destroyers is adequate.

The standard displacement of the King Sejong the Great class is 7,650 tonnes, while its full load displacement is 10,290 tonnes.

King Sejong the Great class destroyers are the world's first destroyers to implement highly advanced AEGIS combat systems with RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile weapons systems [1].

Its main gun is the 127mm/L62 Mk. 45 Mod 4 naval gun, an improved version of the same gun used on other warships from several foreign nations. Aside from firing the standard munition like its previous versions, the new gun can also fire EX-171 Extended-Range Guided Munitions, which has an extended range of 117 km.

Point-defense armaments include a single 30 mm Goalkeeper CIWS and a RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile Block 1 21-round launcher.

Anti-aircraft armament is consisted of SM-2 Block IIIB in 80-cell VLS.

Anti-Submarine Warfare armaments are consisted of both 16 K-ASROC Hong Sahng-uh (Red Shark) anti-submarine rockets and 32 K745 LW Cheong Sahng-uh (Blue Shark) torpedoes.

Anti-ship capability is provided by SSM-700K Hae Sung (Sea Star) long-range anti-ship missile with performance similar to the American Harpoon. The ship will carry 16 of these missiles.

Land-attack capability is provided by the recently-developed Hyunmoo IIIC (Guardian of the Northern Sky) cruise missile with performance similar to the American Tomahawk. The ship will carry 32 of these missiles.

• VLS: 128
  • Mk 41 VLS 80 cell
    • SM-2 Block IIIB
  • K-VLS 48 cell
    • 16* K-ASROC (Korean ASROC)
    • 32* Hyunmoo IIIC (similar to Tomahawk)
• 16* Hae Sung (similar to Harpoon)
• 21* RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile(RAM)

King Sejong the Great class destroyers' highly advanced capabilities (notably AN/SPY-1D radars) makes them closer to cruisers in terms of classification than destroyers. The destroyers are often compared to Ticonderoga class cruisers because they both harbor AN/SPY-1 multi-function radar antennas, have similar-sized fire unit and have strong sea-to-air and sea-to-land capability. One notable difference between the King Sejong the Greats and Burkes is that the VLS cells on King Sejong the Greats will have a capacity of 128 missiles, as opposed to 96 on the Arleigh Burke class and the Japanese Atago class destroyers. Another similarity to Ticonderoga class cruisers is the presence of full facilities (including Hangar) for two ASW helicopters. This feature is also present in Arleigh Burke class Flight IIA and Atago class destroyers, but notably missing in pre-Flight IIA ships and their peers, such as the Japanese Kongo-class destroyers, which only had LAMPS III electronics and a landing deck.

• AN/SPY-1D(V5) in four-panel configuration
• AN/SPG-62 fire control radar
• Bow-mounted DSQS21 BZ-M sonar
• Sonata electronic warfare suite

In April 20th, 2007, Chief of Naval Operations of the Republic of Korea Navy announced that the lead ship of KDX-III class destroyers will be referred as the King Sejong the Great. King Sejong the Great (Hangul:세종대왕) is the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He is accredited with the creation of the Korean alphabet, Hangul.

Hull no.	Name	Launched	Commissioned	Builder
DDG 991	King Sejong the Great	25 May 2007	2008	Hyundai Heavy Industries
DDG 992			2010	Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering
DDG 993			2012

• Korean Destroyer eXperimental
• Gwanggaeto the Great class destroyer
• Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin class destroyer

• ROKN website on KDX-III destroyer
• KDX-III Destroyer
• KDX-III armaments
• Powercorea KDX-III specs
• http://bemil.chosun.com/brd/view.html?tb=BEMIL104&pn=1&num=1010 Photo images
• http://bemil.chosun.com/brd/view.html?tb=BEMIL104&pn=1&num=1009 Photo images
• http://bemil.chosun.com/brd/view.html?tb=BEMIL104&pn=1&num=1009 Photo images
• http://bemil.chosun.com/brd/view.html?tb=BEMIL104&pn=1&num=1007 Photo images