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Home» News»South Korea Unveils New Supersonic Anti-Ship Missile
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South Korea Unveils New Supersonic Anti-Ship Missile
South Korea's new anti-ship missile closely resembles Russia's Yakhont, although it may be slightly smaller. Screencapture from MND video.

South Korea Unveils New Supersonic Anti-Ship Missile

South Korea unveiled five new weapons and technologies on 15 September 2021, testing two of them on the day: A submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and a long-range air-to-surface missile. Not tested last week but unveiled on the occasion, the supersonic anti-ship missile "developed sometime last year is capable of responding to enemy naval forces approaching South Korean waters, according to the Blue House.

Daehan Lee 24 Sep 2021

New supersonic missile which seems to be based on the Russian Yakhont will provide the anti-surface warfare (ASuW) punch of the ROK Navy's future KDDX and KDX III Batch 2 destroyers.

It is known that South Korea’s indigenous supersonic cruise missile, shown to the public with K-SLBM (Hyunmoo 4-4) by the Blue House and the Ministry of National Defense (MND) on September 15, is capable of precisely striking Chinese aircraft carriers and other hostile ships in Western and Eastern Seas of the Korean Peninsula with the speed around Mach 2-3. 

South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) released videos of the test launch twice on September 15 and 17. The first video demonstrated the supersonic missile invisibly passing through the target net on a barge ship. The other one showed the missile precisely destroying the metal poll supporting the net. The test shows that the missile is capable of targeting the water line of large-sized ships like an aircraft carrier. Also, both the initial launch and appearance resembled that of Russian P-800 Yakhont (and its Indian derivative, the BrahMos), confirming previous media coverage on rumors that the South Korean military develops its local supersonic cruise missile by using Russian technology. Yakhont can hit a target from 300 to 600 km with high speed of Mach 3.

Russian supersonic anti-ship cruise missile P-800 Onyx
Mockup of Yakhont / 3M55 / P-800 Onyx / SS-N-26 missile at International Military-Technical Forum Army-2018. Picture by Boevaya mashina.

The media evaluated this as a possible “aircraft carrier killer” or anti-ship missile, giving South Korea a security advantage. Considering that North Korean cruise missiles that were launched a few days earlier than the South reportedly showed the speed of Mach 0.58, proving that Seoul’s new cruise missiles are two times faster at least. North Korea still lacks national capabilities to intercept supersonic or hypersonic cruise missiles.

The MND is developing three types of supersonic cruise missiles: surface-to-ground, ground-to-surface, and surface-to-surface. The one that was unveiled on September 15 was a ground-to-ship model. Launched from ground against naval ships at sea, it can strike all vessels in the region if deployed near coastal areas such as Baekryeong and Ulleung Islands, meaning that the maximum firing range reaches up to 500km. The missile could be a formidable anti-access/area denial (A2AD) weapon system, denying the sea control of the Chinese Navy’s carrier strike group in the future.

South Korea Unveils New Supersonic Anti-Ship Missile
The missile was launched from land. Screencapture from MND video.

“With improved speed, the new missile will make it very difficult for enemy warships to respond, leading to the missile’s higher survivability and destructive power. It is expected to serve as a core asset to counter forces that approach our territorial waters.”



South Korea’s MND

However, detailed specifications of the new cruise missile of the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and local missile manufacturer LIG Nex1 are still unclear. Experts speculate that it might be a bit smaller than Yakhont, with 6.6 meters long, 53 centimeters of diameter, 1.5 tons of weight, and 250 kg of warhead payloads, based on precise guidance equipment and stealth technology to avoid detection by enemy radars. Currently, forward-deployed anti-ship and cruise missiles mostly glide in the subsonic speed of Mach 0.5-0.7. Close-in weapon systems (CIWS) and anti-air defense systems are thus optimized for subsonic interception.

The successfully-developed supersonic cruise missiles will be placed on the next-generation destroyer KDDX and Aegis destroyer KDX-3 Batch-2.

Anti-ship missile ROK Navy South Korea 2021-09-24
Tags Anti-ship missile ROK Navy South Korea
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Authors

Posted by : Daehan Lee
Daehan Lee currently works for aerospace and defense-related projects in Seoul, also being a political, security affairs researcher writing about inter-Korean naval acquisition and development. He previously worked at the U.S. and Belgian Embassies in Seoul, the People Power Party, and election camps. Prior to his work in politics and foreign affairs, Lee served for the Republic of Korea Navy as an assistant to the Vice Admiral and a translator for Master Chief Petty Officers of the Navy, shortly working at the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Fields of interest include the Asia-Pacific security, defense acquisition, Korean politics and foreign policy.

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