Navy opens training center that emulates Aegis combat destroyer

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, May 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Navy said Friday it opened a facility on
its southern coast that would allow its troops to practice operating an
Aegis-equipped warship without deploying one.
The opening of the Aegis Operation Management Training Center (AOMTC) in the port
city of Jinhae, 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul, comes as the country prepares
to commission by next year its second destroyer that can simultaneously detect
1,000 targets hundreds of kilometers away.
South Korea currently operates a single Aegis destroyer, Sejong the Great, which
can track surface, underwater and aerial targets within 500 km and strike any
within a 150-km radius.
"The AOMTC enables us to conduct training as if we were aboard an actual Aegis
destroyer," the Navy said in a statement, adding South Korea has become the second
country after the U.S. to operate such a facility.
South Korea aims to have three Aegis destroyers in operation by 2012. Aegis
refers to an invincible shield in Greek mythology.
The AOMTC is a 2,190-square-meter facility that has seven rooms and over 100
pieces of training equipment, the Navy said.
"The Navy plans to relocate its trainees at an Aegis training center in the U.S.
to Jinhae starting next year so they can continue to study in their country," it
said.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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