The Daegu-class frigates represent the second phase (FFX Batch II) of South Korea’s Future Frigate eXperimental (FFX) program, which was designed to replace the aging Ulsan-class frigates and Pohang-class corvettes. The new frigates are intended for a variety of missions, including anti-submarine warfare, anti-air warfare, patrol, surveillance, search and rescue, and EEZ protection. While the Incheon-class ships constituted the first phase (Batch I), the Daegu ships are clearly more advanced: they have a larger displacement, modern sonars, a domestically developed vertical launch vehicle, and a hybrid propulsion system. The new frigate program began in the early 2000s, while construction began in the mid-2010s, with DSME (Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering) and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) building a total of eight ships that were delivered between 2018 and 2023. The design incorporates increased stealth features. Regarding the electromagnetic footprint, the superstructure volume is continuous and smoothly joins the hull lines, without openings and with external surfaces sloped to remove E\/M energy away from the source. Regarding the acoustic footprint, the ship has hybrid propulsion with electric propulsion to reduce the acoustic footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dimensions of the South Korean frigates are, 122 meters overall length, 14 meters width, 4.15 meters average draft and 7.4 meters hollow, while the ships displace 2,800 tons unladen and 3,600 tons fully loaded. The ship’s propulsion consists of a combination of electropropulsion or aeroturbine, CODLOG (Combined Diesel Electric Or Gas) with one MT30 GT aeroturbine and an output of 36-40 MW at 3,300 rpm for high speeds and four MTU 12V4000 M53B Tier II electric motors according to IMO, with an output of 1650kW and an average fuel consumption of 211 g\/kWh. The four electric motors are used both for the propulsion of the ship, through two Leonardo DRS Permanent Magnet electric motors that are coupled one to each shaft, and for the supply of electrical energy for all the needs of the ship. The power of the air turbine is provided to both shafts of the ship by means of a reduction gearbox. The maximum speed of the ship with the air turbine in operation is 30 knots, while with the electric motors the frigate achieves 15 knots economic speed and a range of 4500 nautical miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The frigate has a dual-role naval gun Mk45 Mod from Bae Systems, with a caliber of 127 mm and a maximum range of 24 kilometers, installed in the bow. Directly behind the gun is the K-VLS vertical missile launcher with 16 cells capable of launching the South Korean-developed 20 km range Haegung K-SAAM anti-aircraft missiles in quads, the South Korean K-ASROC (Red Shark) missiles carrying the South Korean Blue Shark light torpedoes with a range of 19 km, and the Haeryong cruise missiles for land strikes with a range of 200+ km. Two quadruple anti-ship missile launchers are located directly in front of the helicopter hangar, hidden so as not to burden the frigate’s E\/M trace. They are also South Korean-developed and carry the SSM\u2011700K Haeseong anti-ship missiles with a range of 150 kilometers. The SSM\u2011700K have sea-skimming capabilities, carry a 250 kg warhead, have a maximum speed of Mach 0.85 and INS+GPS guidance with active radar during the final approach phase. For anti-missile protection, the ships carry a Mk15 Block 1B Phalanx with a 20 mm hexa-barrel cannon mounted on the helicopter hangar. Finally, it carries two triple torpedo tubes for Blue Shark light torpedoes. At the stern there is a helipad and a helicopter hangar for the landing and servicing of a 10-ton class helicopter. As a last line of defense, the ship has two Rheinmetall MASS aerofoil\/thermofoil launchers and, against incoming torpedoes, two SLQ\u2011261K countermeasure launchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the ship’s electronic systems are also South Korean-developed and manufactured. The ship’s main sensor is the AESA 3D SPS-550K radar, which operates in the S-band and has a maximum range of 250 kilometers. The fire control radar is the SPG-540K, which provides final guidance for weapons, including the K-SAAM Haeseong missiles and the close-in defense systems (CIWS), as well as support for the Mk 45 gun. Target information from the SPS-550K is transmitted as input to the SPG-540K for greater accuracy. It has a radar, an IR camera and a laser rangefinder for higher accuracy. It also has the IRST SAQ-600K and EOTS SAQ-540K systems. The former is an infrared target tracking system with a range of 185 kilometers with the ability to detect air and sea targets. Correspondingly, the EOTS SAQ\u2011540K is also a passive recognition and guidance system for weapons in the visible spectrum with a range of 56 kilometers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For anti-submarine operations, the frigate has an integrated sensor system with a ship-based sonar SQS-240K and a towed SQR-250K. The first has a range of 30 kilometers and the second a range of 100 kilometers. Finally, it has a complete electronic warfare suite ESM\/ECM SLQ-200(V)K Sonata. The information-combat system is the Naval Shield ICMS Baseline 2.0 from Hanwha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead of an epilogue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n South Korea’s shipbuilding and defense industry in general has made leaps in development, developing high-tech and efficient products. The FFX Batch II program, to which the Daegu-class frigates belong, is the intermediate step in upgrading the fleet of main vessels of the South Korean navy. The FFX Batch III (Chungnam-class) program is currently underway, while the future Batch IV will include missile defense and ocean-type operational range. At the same time, an agreement was signed in 2024 for the construction of four frigates of the type for the Peruvian navy with local construction, demonstrating the export potential of ships of South Korean design and technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Daegu-class frigates represent the second phase (FFX Batch II) of South Korea’s Future Frigate eXperimental (FFX) program, which was designed to replace the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1808],"tags":[7170,2473,1094],"class_list":["post-25330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defense-space","tag-daegu-class-frigates","tag-frigates","tag-south-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25332,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25330\/revisions\/25332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}