S.Korea launches 3rd 4,000 ton-class 'stealth' destroyer

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 12, 2003

S.Korea launches 3rd 4,000 ton-class 'stealth' destroyer

South Korea's navy launched its third 4,000 ton-class "stealth" destroyer Wednesday in Okpo, some 480 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

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South Korea's navy launched its third 4,000 ton-class "stealth" destroyer Wednesday in Okpo, some 480 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

The domestically built 4,375-ton ship, equipped with a range of high-tech weaponry, was set afloat at a shipyard in Okpo, the navy said in a news releases on Wednesday.

The ship, dubbed Daejoyoung, the founder of ancient Korean kingdom Balhae, is the third and last destroyer the navy has developed under its program code-named KDX-II.

"With the Daejoyoung ship's launching, the navy has an upgradedoperational capability in anti-vessel, anti-aircraft and anti-submarine missions in modern multidimensional warfare," the navy said.

The new destroyer, which has radar-evading stealth functions, is equipped with SM-II ship-to-air missiles, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, RAM-guided supersonic missiles and other guns as well astwo anti-submarine Super Lynx helicopters, according to the news release.

The ship was designed and built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & MarineEngineering Co., it said. The weapons system was brought in from the United States and other countries.

The navy said it will deploy the new ship after a one-year testrun.

The navy commissioned three 3,000-ton class destroyers in the late 1990s under the KDX-I program, and now plans to build three 7,000-ton class Aegis-equipped destroyers by 2012 under its KDX-III program.

Last year, US manufacturer Lockheed Martin won a contract to provide Aegis combat system for the navy's three KDX-III ships. South Korea's first Aegis-equipped vessel is to be built by 2008.

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