South Korea is an emerging military power in Northeast Asia, they are cherishing the construction of a new warship, which can carry 80 cruise missiles; but for what purpose Korea wanting to build this warship?
Northeast Asia is always a place of potential conflicts and intertwined interests and is considered as hot spots, which can lead to an outbreak of war at any time. Currently, relations between the two Koreas are still in a state of war; In addition, relations between Korea and Japan are still in a state of “unsatisfactory level”.
According to the US website “Military Observer”, South Korea is considering developing a ” super missile ship “, with a displacement of about 5,000 tons; will be used for special purposes, can carry up to 80 ground-attack cruise missiles.
These Korean “super-missile ships” may also have another combat ability, which is to attack enemy surface ships. According to information, each “super rocket ship” will be equipped with 80 vertical missile launch wells, used to launch cruise missiles.
Although many of the ROK Navy’s destroyers are also equipped with more than 80 vertical missile launchers, only a small fraction of the missiles they carry are land-attack cruise missiles. ; the other part is anti-aircraft, anti-ship, anti-submarine and anti-ballistic missiles.
With a cruise missile-only design, the ground attack firepower of the Korean “super-missile ship” can be much stronger than that of any other surface combatant ship, because 80 units the ship’s vertical missile launcher, which will be dedicated to loading cruise missiles.
But if armed only with cruise missiles, the “super missile ship” will not be able to defend against enemy fighters, missiles or submarines
Thus, in terms of self-defense, the “super-missile ships” can only rely on destroyers or escorting frigates, and they can hardly carry out combat missions independently.
The South Korean Navy said that the “super-missile ship” is still in the “pregnancy” stage and its design has not yet been finalized. However, South Korea is one of the few countries that can launch domestic cruise missiles from surface warships for long-range precision strikes.
The Hyunmu series of cruise missiles are self-researched and produced by Korea, integrated into the destroyer, equipped with the Aegis combat system developed by the US; Hyunmu missile has similar features to the US Navy’s Tomahawk cruise missile
For decades, the South Korean Army has attached great importance to long-range precision strike capabilities. With the continuous development of the country’s ballistic missile program, along with the “super-missile ship”, it could become a powerful weapon for the South Korean military to strike against its opponents.
According to the analysis, the reason for South Korea to develop a “super missile ship” may be mainly to counter North Korea and Japan. This is because Korea and Japan continue to have conflicts and are also facing territorial disputes; Meanwhile, tensions between South Korea and North Korea never show signs of cooling down
The relatively small size of the “super-missile ship” also shows that this type of warship, mainly aimed at maximizing the navy’s fire advantage, in regional operations, is not used. in global operations. Large destroyers, such as the Sejong the Great class, may be more suitable for global naval operations.
According to reports, South Korea is also considering the development of a stealth frigate named DW8000, which was displayed at the 2021 International Maritime Defense Industry Exhibition in Busan. This is the future class of the Korean Navy.
However, not displaying the design of the “super rocket ship” in this exhibition, this also raises the question of whether the “super rocket ship” plan can become a reality in the near future or not. are not. And will Japan allow South Korea to carry out the project of “super-missile ships” close to Japan’s territorial waters? That is the question that Korea needs to be transparent about.