Seoul commissions first warship with Aegis-level combat capability

SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Wednesday commissioned the first of its
next-generation high-speed patrol boats with speeds of up to 40 knots per hour
and equipped with an integrated combat system similar to the Aegis system.'

The commissioning of the new PKG (Patrol Killer, Guided-Missile) class ship comes
after a 19-month trial run, during which the country's indigenous combat system
was also installed for the first time.
The new combat system allows the warship to simultaneously detect and monitor up
to 100 aerial and surface targets, while its automated weapons control system
also allows it to engage a multiple number of targets at the same time, according
to its developer, the Agency for Defense Development. The Aegis is a more
sophisticated system that allows simultaneous detection of up to 1,000 targets.
The first PKG ship was named Yoon Young Ha after the late Navy lieutenant
commander who was killed with five others in a 2002 clash with North Korean
forces in the Yellow Sea. The ship also replaces Yoon's patrol boat that sank
during the clash, leaving more than a dozen North Korean troops killed or
injured, the Navy said.
"With the commissioning of the new patrol boat that is equipped with a high-tech
combat system, guided missiles and naval guns, the Navy now possesses enormous
power that can deter any enemy provocation at sea," Adm. Jung Ok-geun, chief of
naval operations, was quoted as saying in a speech given at the commissioning
ceremony in Jinhae, some 450 kilometers south of Seoul.
The 440-ton ship is 63 meters long and 9 meters wide, and is equipped with
various anti-ship and anti-aircraft weapons.
Seoul plans to build about 20 more of the PKG-class ships by 2015, according to a
Navy official.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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