Posted on 10/16/2013 2:18:07 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean Navy has made a request to build three more Aegis destroyers to bolster defense against its Asian neighbors and North Korea amid increasing military tension due to territorial disputes, a military source said Wednesday.
South Korea currently operates three 7,600-ton Aegis warships, but the Navy has sought to increase its fleet to cope with rising regional tension in light of Pyongyang's third nuclear test conducted earlier this year and ongoing territorial disputes between China and Japan.
"The Navy made a request for three additional Aegis ships to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) a year ago," the source said, asking for anonymity. "The JCS will discuss the plan in a meeting slated for next month."
If the plan is approved, the Navy will begin to build the ships between 2020 and 2025, he noted.
It is estimated to cost about 3 trillion won (US$2.8 billion) to build the three ships, according to military officials.
South Korea has built three Aegis destroyers since 2004 under a Navy buildup project to bolster defense against North Korea.
The 166-meter-long destroyer is equipped with the latest radar system as well as missiles and torpedoes in their vertical launch system. With 300 crew members, it can also carry two mid-sized helicopters and sail at a top speed of 30 knots within a range of 1,000 kilometers.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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Or will they push to get the better-than-ever Aegis replacement radar? http://www.defensenews.com/article/20131010/DEFREG02/310100022/Raytheon-Wins-Key-US-Navy-Radar-Competition
They might, but as usual, there are problems. Looking at the posted picture these appear to be DDG based designs.
In order to upgrade the radar, more power is required; a lot more. Also, more cooling to dissipate more heat.
The US Navy is also struggling with this. If the Navy wants to back fit older DDGs, they have an option to:
1) Removing the forward gun and put the additional RF and cooling equipment there. Power is still a problem.
2) Install the additional equipment in one of the H-60 hangers. This leaves the ship with only one hanger and extremely top heavy.
3) Modify the ships by inserting two plugs - one to extend the propulsion spaces for the additional generators and extra fuel, a second forward of the superstructure to make room for the additional equipment. The problem is that this makes an already long, thin hull, longer. Bending moments my become intolerable and fail the hull in high seas conditions.
The obvious alternative, is to start on a DDG replacement program that lengthens and widens the current DDG... just not to the point of a Zumwalt. One estimate I saw says making it 15 feet wider and 30 feet longer will do it. But this is still a major redesign effort.
And since you're at it, might as well throw in some RF signiture reduction technology, like a shapped mast.
I wonder if they should just up the tonnage to about the size of a Desmoines class heavy cruiser instead of trying to squeeze more into limited space.
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