Thread: The South Korea Navy

South Korea Develops Mobile Force
Braces for Japan, China Buildups
By JUNG SUNG-KI
Published: 4 May 2009
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4070495

SEOUL - South Korea is advancing its plans to establish an expeditionary Navy capable of overseas operations and countering regional threats, and not simply focused on coastal defense against a North Korean invasion.

Regional concerns include China's rapid naval buildup and a potential territorial dispute with Japan over the sovereignty of South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo, South Korean Navy sources said.

"For the Republic of Korea Navy, a focus is now on expanding its capabilities beyond littoral defense against North Koreans into open-sea operations to cope with emerging regional threats," a Navy official said. "In particular, we need to secure the minimum capabilities to deal with Chinese and Japanese naval capacities."

To that end, the Navy wants to operate a "strategic mobile fleet" of two Aegis destroyer-led squadrons in the next decade, he said.

The service already has in place a plan to inaugurate a strategic mobile squadron by 2015. The squadron will consist of 4,500-ton KDX-II destroyers, 7,600-ton KDX-III destroyers fitted with the Aegis combat system, Type-214 1,800-ton submarines, 2,300-ton next-generation FFX-I-class frigates that will begin service in 2011, anti-submarine Lynx helicopters and other support vessels.

To form one more squadron, the Navy is seeking approval to build three more Aegis destroyers following the three planned by 2012. The service has set afloat two of the planned three Aegis destroyers with the lead ship, Sejong the Great, beginning operations last December. The per-unit price is about $1 billion.

"We hope to operate five to six Aegis destroyers for better operational flexibility in the future if budget conditions are met," Vice Adm. Park Jung-hwa, commander of the South Korean Navy's Operations Command, told a group of Korean journalists in the command headquarters in the southern port city of Busan on April 21.

This would require a pair of Aegis ships in combat positions, another pair on standby and a fifth ship under regular maintenance, he said.

The KDX-III is one of the most advanced Aegis warships. Its SPY-1D radar can simultaneously track about 1,000 aircraft within a 500-kilometer radius, providing 360-degree coverage. The 166-meter-long, 21-meter-wide ship can carry 128 anti-air, land-attack and anti-submarine missiles in its vertical launch systems.

Among the missile systems for the KDX-III are SM-2 Block IIIA/B ship-to-air missiles with a range of 170 kilometers, locally developed Cheonryong ship-to-ship surface cruise missiles with a range of more than 500 kilometers, Hongsangeo ship-to-submarine torpedoes with a target range of 19 kilometers, and Haeseong ship-to-ship missiles with a range of 150 kilometers.

Strategic Naval Base

In an important step toward establishing a mobile fleet, the Navy on April 27 received approval to build a forward-deployed naval base on the country's southern resort island of Jeju after eight years of controversy.

The base, scheduled for completion by 2014, will serve as the home port for the strategic mobile squadrons, the Navy said in a news release. It will be able to harbor two 150,000-ton commercial cruise liners, as well as about 20 warships, it said.

Defense experts say the Jeju command will play a key role in handling potential regional conflicts.

"Jeju has long been considered a tactical, strategic point to secure southern sea lanes for transporting energy supplies and carry out operations in the case of an emergency in Northeast Asia," said Cmdr. Bae Sung-woo of the Navy's public affairs office, here. "Following the construction of the forward-deployed base, the ROK Navy will be able to successfully conduct long-range, mobile operations to protect our commercial vessels in blue waters, including the Malacca Strait, as well as carry out full-fledged operations around the Korean Peninsula."

Submarine Plans

To thwart North Korea's asymmetrical capabilities and other regional hostile forces, the Navy has emphasized strengthening its submarine fleet. The Navy has nine German-made Type-209 1,200-ton submarines and three Type-214 1,800-ton submarines, first built locally under technical cooperation with HDW of Germany. They are all diesel- and electric-powered.

"Submarine fleets are seen as one of the most powerful features of any military force," said Park Chang-kwon, a researcher at the state-funded Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA). "For South Korea, the requirements and roles of advanced attack submarines are essential to help neutralize the North's increasing asymmetrical capabilities."

Six more Type-214 subs are scheduled to be commissioned by 2018, when the Navy will inaugurate a submarine command. The Type-214 submarine, a core part of the future strategic mobile squadrons, is armed with modern torpedoes and submarine-to-surface missiles.

The 65.3-meter-long sub can submerge to depths of up to 400 meters, with a maximum submerged speed of 20 knots. With the help of Air Independent Propulsion (AIP), which improves its underwater performance and gives it stealth capability, the submarine can carry out underwater operations for as long as two weeks, putting Guam in its operational range, according to the Navy.

The sub's ISUS-90 integrated sensor enables operators to detect about 240 targets simultaneously and track 32 targets.

Beginning in 2018, South Korea plans to build indigenous 3,000-ton KSS-III submarines fitted with domestically built submarine combat systems aimed at automating target detection, tracking, threat assessment and weapon control. The heavy sub will be armed with indigenous ship-to-ground cruise missiles and be capable of underwater operations for up to 50 days with a more advanced AIP system, Navy officials said.

According to informed government sources, the Navy wants to deploy about six KSS-III submarines and then may push to develop a nuclear-powered submarine as a hedge against future uncertainties in Northeast Asia.

The Navy denies any plan to develop a nuclear-powered submarine.

Park, of KIDA, admitted the Navy needs nuclear-powered submarines in the long term but was skeptical about the plan, citing the potential political and diplomatic backlash, particularly from the United States.

South Korea initially pushed for developing a nuclear-powered sub in 2004 but canceled the initiative later for the same reason.

"The nuclear-powered submarine plan involves both military and political aspects," Park said. "Nuclear subs will, of course, offer benefits to the Navy in terms of much longer operational range and fuel efficiency. But the thing is, unless legal and political problems are resolved first, we can't go forward with the plan."

The analyst apparently referred to a 1991 inter-Korean non-nuclear declaration and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, in which non-nuclear weapon states such as South Korea are required to place all of their nuclear materials under inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure they are not used to develop atomic weapons.

Some proponents say that because nuclear-powered submarines use low-grade nuclear fuel, they do not violate the denuclearization pledge. Opponents say that since a nuclear-powered sub would require enriched uranium fuel, the ability to enrich uranium also could be used to produce material for building nuclear weapons.

Nuclear submarines can remain underwater much longer than conventional submarines propelled by diesel generators and are considered a strategic weapon second only to aircraft carriers.