According to Ridzwan Rahmat, IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly correspondent, on June 2, South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) has launched the country’s first FFX-II platform.
The ship, which has been named Daegu with pennant number FFG-818, was launched at the company’s shipyard in Okpo. The FFX-II platform is a larger variant of the Incheon (FFX-I)-class ships that are in service with the Republic of Korea Navy (RoKN).
According to specifications provided by DSME, the platform features an overall length of 400 feet/122 m and an overall beam of 46 feet/14 m. The ship has a standard displacement of 2,800 tonnes and a full load displacement of 3,600 tonnes. Powered by one Rolls-Royce MT30 turbine engine and four diesel generators in a combined diesel-electric or gas configuration (CODOG), the ship can attain a maximum speed of 30 knots/34.5 mph/55.5 km/h, the company said.
The FFX-II platform is armed with one 127-mm Mk-45 Mod. 4 naval gun and one aft-facing, six-barrelled, 20-mm Raytheon Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS). The ship has also been equipped with a 16-cell Korean Vertical Launching System (VLS) for defence against aerial threats and six 324-mm torpedo tubes for submarine prosecution.
The ship can accommodate a crew of 120 and one medium helicopter on its flight deck.
Daegu is scheduled for delivery to the RoKN in late 2017 and expected to be commissioned in late 2018, DSME said. A contract for a second vessel in the class is expected to be issued by the South Korean government this year.
