By Geoff Fein
South Korea conducted a successful testing of its newest destroyer’s Aegis combat system during three weeks of qualification trials, according to Lockheed Martin [LMT].
The Sejong the Great (DDG-991) is the first of three KDX-III destroyers that will bring upgraded air defense, anti-submarine and anti-surface ship capabilities to the country’s navy, Doug Wilhelm, director of international Aegis programs, told Defense Daily recently.
On the heels of the recent South Korean Cheonan (PCC-772) disaster, it was very important for the country to show its capability to bring a more powerful warship online, Wilhelm added.
“There was a lot of tension on this CSSQT (Combat Ship System Qualification Test) and the very positive result was very beneficial for their stance in the region,” Wilhelm said.
The real significance of CSSQT is that it verifies, upon completion, that the ship is war ready, he added.
“Typically the ship will have been in commission for a year or upward of a year before it will go to CSSQT,” Wilhelm noted.
Although the South Korean crew received training and support from the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin, it was the ship’s crew that executed the mission during CSSQT, he added.
“They are very capable, very competent, very quick studies,” Wilhelm said of the South Korean crew. “This crew, in particular, has been very good for our team to work with. We developed a very strong camaraderie with them and they have performed very, very well.”
CSSQT for the second of the three destroyers will occur sometime in the mid 2012 timeframe, he add. She is moving toward commissioning, which is scheduled for Sept. 1, 2010, Wilhelm said.
Ship three is expected to go into its CSSQT in mid-2014. Wilhelm noted that the two-year intervals between CSSQTs enables each ship to participate in the Rim of the Pacific Exercises.
The three South Korean ships are being built to the same Aegis Combat System baseline configuration, he added.
“We will always, through the U.S. Navy, talk with customer countries about periods for upgrade and tech refresh. That is generally something the countries will not enter into right away, something they might consider around mid-life of the vessel,” Wilhelm said.
There are currently five active Aegis international programs right now: Australia, Japan, Norway, South Korea and Spain.
Australia and Spain are building ships now, Wilhelm said. Spain had four ships that were commissioned with a previous generation of Aegis. The country is building a fifth ship now, he added.
The Australians are building three Air Warfare Destroyers, leveraging Spain’s F-100 hull design, Wilhelm noted.
“The Aegis system that will be installed on those ships is the next generation after what is being installed on the ROK [South Korean] ships,” he said. “It’s based on the Navy’s ACB (Advanced Capability Build) 08 baseline.”
With the exception of the smaller Norwegian frigate, all of the Aegis international systems utilize the AN/SPY-1D or -1D(V). “That’s the largest of the SPY radar family,” Wilhelm said.
“The Norwegian frigate is significantly smaller and was not large enough to carry the largest of the radar systems so the radar system there is the SPY-1F, a reduced sized radar for smaller frigates and ships,” he said.
The KDX-III destroyers are the largest surface warships carrying the Aegis Combat System, according to Lockheed Martin.
“The fact the Korean ship is slightly larger than others doesn’t pose any challenges,” Wilhelm said.
“A larger ship will have larger topside spaces and potentially larger below deck spaces.”
Generally, for the international variant of the Aegis Combat System, Lockheed Martin will make modifications to integrate capabilities that the host country might want to incorporate, for example, their own anti-submarine warfare, electronic warfare, self-defense or torpedo system, Wilhelm said.
“Our development is generally in the area of adapting our system and integrating those capabilities in,” he said. “Every country has its own unique set of stuff they want to employ; every one is a little bit different. We tend to approach it with a similar process so that we are always doing things the same way.”
Even architecturally, Lockheed Martin tries to utilize some of the same concepts and some of those concepts provide the ability for industries in the host country to have some work share as well, Wilhelm added.
“That is generally important to our ally countries. They have a defense industry and they would like them to be involved,” he said.