S. Korea's second Aegis destroyer close to operation: officials

SEOUL, Feb. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's second Aegis destroyer will go into
operation by August this year with nearly 70 percent of examinations complete as
of now, officials said Thursday.

"Test operations for the ship will be complete by the end of May and the ship
will be transferred to the Navy and be operational by August," an official at
Seoul's Defense Acquisition Program Administration said, requesting anonymity.
A team of about 150 experts, including officials of the ship's manufacturer,
Lockheed Martin of the United States, are currently taking part in the trial
operations which began last year, he added.
The 7,600 ton-class KDX-III destroyer, armed with the cutting-edge Aegis air
warfare system, can carry up to two helicopters as well as various ship-to-ship
and ship-to-air guided missiles that can be fired simultaneously at up to 20
targets.
The ship, to be launched after South Korea's first Aegis destroyer Sejong the
Great, has been named after Yi I, a prominent Korean Confucian scholar of the
Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). Only a few countries including the United States,
Japan, Spain and Norway have Aegis warships.
The KDX-III ship is the core of the South Korean Navy's so-called "strategic
mobile squadrons" consisting of 14,000 large-deck landing platforms, 4,500-ton
KDX-II destroyers, 1,800-ton Type 214 submarines, frigates and anti-submarine
Lynx helicopters.
The ship's SPY-1D radar can track some 1,000 aircraft within a 500-kilometer
radius simultaneously, providing full 360-degree coverage. The ship can carry
SM-2 ship-to-air missiles with a range of 170 kilometers.
The ship can carry 300 crewmembers and is able to sail at a maximum speed of 30
knots with a cruising range of 10,000 kilometers. Its per-unit price is US$1
billion, according to officials at the weapons procurement agency.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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