From the Magazine: PUSHING FORWARD — SOUTH KOREA’S GROWING NAVAL CAPABILITIES

Faced with the persistent threat of conflict with its northern neighbour, South Korea has for years maintained a steady trajectory of naval modernisation. To continue doing this, Seoul is banking on increasingly advanced platforms, systems, and technologies ‘Made in Korea’. Around mid-September 2021 the country achieved a key milestone that highlighted both the level of technological advancement and the defence industrial capabilities of the Northeast Asian country. Amid successive weapon tests and provocations by neighbouring North Korea, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) in Seoul announced that it successfully tested its first indigenous submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from a submerged, in-service submarine. By doing so, South Korea not only became the first country without nuclear weapons to achieve this feat, but also joined an elite group of military powers to field such a capability. Codenamed ‘Hyunmoo 4’, the SLBM is believed to be a variant of South Korea’s 500 km-range Hyunmoo-2B ballistic missile meant for deployment from the Republic of Korea Navy’s (RoKN’s) KSS-III (also spelled KSS-3)-class submarines. Fitted with a conventional warhead, the weapon has been designed to enhance the country’s sea-based deterrence and help overcome asymmetric threats, according to the MND. The SLBM is just the latest in a series of weapons, platforms, systems, technologies, and doctrines being introduced into the RoKN as the service prepares for the complexities of a potential conflict with North Korea — which keeps bolstering its strike capabilities through new platforms and missile systems. At the same time, the South Korean navy is acquiring several assets that are transforming it into a fully-fledged blue-water navy as it seeks to safeguard the country’s growing maritime and territorial interests both within the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. To meet these requirements, the RoKN is constantly improving and modernising its traditional assets – be it patrol vessels, corvettes, destroyers, mine-countermeasure vessels, landing ships or submarines – and adding new capabilities to its inventory, such as unmanned aerial, surface, and underwater vessels. As an aside, with a Defence budget only slightly larger than Australia’s, the RoKN currently has 12 guided missile destroyers; 18 frigates; 11 corvettes; and 22 modern diesel-electric submarines. This is an excerpt from APDR. To read the full story, click here. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Director of Sales Graham Joss at [email protected]