한국군 현황 - 해군(영문) 2009

Navy

The mission of the navy during peacetime is not only to deter war, but also to protect national and maritime sovereignty, and perform activities that support national foreign policies and enhance national prestige. Its mission during war is to guarantee the safety of activities at sea by protecting the sea lines of communications (SLOCs), the life line of the country, and exercising control over the sea. At the same time, it must prevent enemy activities at sea, and carry out surprise amphibious operations against the enemy's side and rear areas.

Due to the nation's geography and proximity to North Korea, the modernization of the Korean Naval Forces is the most important objective of the ROKN. Submarine intrusions have demonstrated the need for faster vessels as well as more sophisticated technology and equipment to deter North Korea from future provocation.

Naval Organization

On 20 March 2001 ROK President Kim Dae-jung said that South Korea would create a new "strategic mobile fleet" consisting of destroyers, submarines and anti-submarine aircraft. In a speech before graduating midshipmen at the Korea Naval Academy in the southeastern port city of Chinhae, President Kim said, ``We will soon have a strategic mobile fleet that protects state interests in the five big oceans and play a role of keeping peace in the world.''

On 25 March 2008 President Lee Myung-bak pledged to build up the naval forces to protect Korea`s global commercial interests and expand its contributions to world peace. "The 21st century is the era of the ocean. We have to build a state-of-the-art force that can protect our maritime sovereignty," Lee said in a congratulatory statement during the 62th annual graduation ceremony at the Korea Naval Academy. "With a vision for an advanced deep-sea Navy, our Navy should become a force that can ensure the security of maritime transportation lines, and contribute to peace in the world." In the statement read by Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee, the president stressed the import!ance of maritime security for the nation`s future. "Sea is the turf for our survival and national prosperity. only if we efficiently defend and use the sea can peace and economic growth 

 be secured," the statement reads.

Korea's Strategic Mobile Fleet could be sent to secure a sea lane in East Asia in the event of a maritime dispute. Currently, the Korean Navy is divided into three sectors -- one each assigned to East, West and South Seas surrounding the southern half of the Korean peninsula. The Strategic Mobile Fleet will take a form of an integrated fleet that can be rapidly deployed into the area of trouble. In this respect, the Stratgic Mobile Fleet is a transition from the current coastal navy to the blue water navy.

Both the navy and marine corps were subordinate to the chief of naval operations, who was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The navy consists of the Navy Headquarters, Operations Command, and Marine Corps Command, and separate commands for aviation, amphibious operations, mine warfare, training, and logistics--all subordinate to the first vice chief of naval operations. It possesses 67,000 troops including the marine corps, 200-some vessels including submarines, and about 60 aircraft.

The navy, with nearly 40,000 personnel, is organized into three fleets under the Operations Command: in the East and Yellow Seas and the Korea Strait. Each fleet command possesses combat vessels such as destroyers, escorts, and high-speed boats. Also, the Operations Command possesses vessels and aircraft in order to conduct main component operations including anti-submarine, mine, amphibious, and salvage operations and special warfare.

 

Under Defense Reform 2020, the 15-year military modernization program announced in 2005, the unit structure will shift from the current structure of 3 Fleet Commands, 1 Submarine Combat Group, and 1 Naval Aviation Wing to 3 Fleet Commands (FC), 1 Submarine Command (SC), 1 Naval Aviation Command (NAC), and 1 Maneuver Combat Group (MCG). These changes are designed to develop the ROK Navy’s maneuver unit structure so as to enhance operational capabilities suitable for future battlefields.

Naval Modernization

During the 1980s, the navy's modernization program focused on antisubmarine warfare and the deployment of new types of indigenously produced submarines, frigates, missile-equipped fast attack craft, and patrol boats.

In 1990 South Korean shipbuilders were building two indigenously designed naval vessels, and they had coproduction agreements with United States, Italian, and German companies for several other types of ships. Four shipbuilders--Hyundai, Daewoo, Korea Tacoma, and Korean Shipbuilding and Engineering -- constructed South Korean-designed Ulsan-class frigates and Tonghae-class corvettes for the navy. During the 1980s, Korea Tacoma, a South Korean-owned subsidiary of the United States Tacoma Boatbuilding Company, produced one class of patrol gunboat and one class of landing ship for the navy.

On 12 February 1999 the Defense Ministry announced that the Korean Navy will have three Aegis-class destroyers within 10 years under a medium-term defense procurement project. Each of the 7,000-ton destroyers will cost about 1 trillion won, or approximately $840 million. Design of the warship will start in the year 2001 and the first will be launched in 2009 or 2010, according to ministry officials.

Through the 1990s the navy remained a small force primarily dedicated to protecting the nation's territorial waters and islands. Now it has started to take on the features of an "Ocean-Going Navy" of the 21st century by building and commissioning Korean versions of a destroyer (KDX), a heavy landing ship (LST), a mine laying ship (MLS), and a mine hunting ship (MHC). The new Navy fleet will be made up of Aegis-class destroyers, next-generation submarines and anti-submarine aircraft. South Korea launched its first 7,000-ton, Aegis-class destroyer in 2008. The Navy has also teamed up with Germany to build 1,800t-class "next-generation" submarines, and plans to purchase anti-submarine aircraft, including helicopters.

In the late 1980s, production of submarines designed by the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was initiated. Three 150-ton submarines designed by the Howaldswerke Shipbuilding Corporation were in service with the navy in 1990. Howaldswerke also had plans to provide technical assistance for the construction of three Type 209 submarines, about 1,400 tons each. South Korean military planners were interested in using submarines to protect critical shipping lanes from North Korean submarines in wartime.

The navy has implemented projects to secure submarines since the late 1980s, and in June 1993 it commissioned the Changbogoham, a 1,200-ton import!ed submarine. In April 1994, the navy commissioned and deployed the Ichonham, the first submarine to be built with domestic technology. This was no doubt a dramatic development for underwater operations. The navy planned to secure new-model submarines annually, loaded with modern weapon systems in order to lay the foundation for underwater force capabilities, considered to be relatively inferior to other fields.

By the late 1990s the Naval Amphibious Command operated a small fleet of landing craft to support Marine Corps operations. The Landing Platform, Helicopter (LPH) Dokdo (classified as a transport vessel by the ROK Navy) became operational in July 2007. Construction of the vessel began in October 2002, and it was launched in July 2005. The vessel has a standard displacement of 14,000 tons. It is capable of being equipped with 7 helicopters, 6 tanks, and 7 armored amphibious vehicles, and can hold approximately 700 landing troops, as well as 2 high-speed air-cushion landing crafts (hovercrafts). Along with landing operations, the vessel can be used for fleet command and control in maritime operations like surface or antisubmarine combat. The ROK Navy has described the commissioning of the Dokdo as another step towards its acquisition of blue-water combat capabilities.

The Korean Navy has expedited its steps to build a blue-water Navy to meet the growing security needs. Given that large portions of the nation`s economy depend on overseas trade, its national security has an extended scope to the sea lines of communication (SLOC). The Navy is working on an array of improvement programs to extend its operational coverage. By 2012, Korea plans to deploy three 7,600-ton class Aegis-equipped destroyers under a project code-named KDX-III. The plan is to build three 14,000-ton-class large-deck transport ships by 2011.

Under the KSS-II project, the Navy also plans to build nine 1,800-ton Type 214 submarines equipped with advanced systems including air independent propulsion (AIP) and flank array sonar (FAS). With AIP, they can perform deep-sea operations for two weeks without surfacing. According to the transcript of the national assembly's meeting of 05 April 2006, South Korea's submarine plan was changed in December 2005 from 9 Type 209s, 3 Type 214s, and 12 "SSX" (indigenous 3,000-ton submarines) to 9 Type 209s, 9 Type 214s, and 9 "KX-3" submarines.

The Navy plans to build a naval base on Jeju by 2014, at a cost of 800 billion won ($850 million). The base will dock a mobile naval combat fleet, which is a key asset for securing maritime transportation routes and wielding a sea-going deterrent to various threats. The fleet will consist of 4,200-ton destroyers, 7,000-ton destroyers with the Aegis combat systems, and other submarines and combat support vessels.

In recent years, the ROK Navy has carried out a considerable upgrading of its equipment, and by the time the Defense Reform 2020 plan is fully implemented, it is expected to be one of the leading naval forces in Asia. The navy’s primary focus is the expansion of operational range and increase of attack capability. By 2020, the navy will have five fleets (1st, 2nd, 3rd fleet, submarine command, and airpower command) with 70 ships of approximately 120,000 tons. Plus the navy will double the number of aircraft, about 100. Destroyers (KDX II/III), submarines KSS II/III), AEGIS-class cruisers, and LPX will be added by 2020.

Naval vessels deployed with the Eastern, Western, and Southern fleets are equipped with modern sonar equipment, depth charges, and torpedoes to counter more effectively North Korea's 

 growing submarine force. Two types of United States-produced and one type of French-produced shipborne surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles were used by the navy on its destroyers, frigates, and fast attack craft.

United States-produced Harpoon surface-to- surface missiles, with a ninety-kilometer range, were deployed on Ulsan-class frigates, and Paegu-class fast attack craft derived from the Ashville-class. As of 1993 missile attack craft included 8 Pae Ku-52, 3 with 4 Standard (boxed) SSM, 5 Pae Ku-52 with 2 x 2 Harpoon SSM, 1 Pae Ku-51 (US Asheville), with 2 x Standard SSM, and 2 Kilurki-71 (Wildcat) with 2 x MM-38 Exocet SSM. Apart from these two vessels, the Kiruki class FACs, also known as Chamsuri class, never carried SSM launchers. Their primary mission was to knock out North Korean FACs with small-calibre guns. Harpoons were also deployed on Gearing-class destroyers, and after these were retired the Harpoon launchers from these ships were tranferred to few Pohang class ships, giving these corvettes more of a reach.

French produced Exocet surface-to-surface missiles, with a seventy kilometer range, were employed on Donghae frigates [not Kilurki-class fast attack craft]. Currently, Exocets are deployed exclusively on Dong Hae class corvettes and Pohang class ships that had been designed for surface-strike missions. Paekgu [Paegu / Pae Ku] class missile fast attack craft [FAC] carried two types of SSMs, one was Harpoon, and the other was the Standard ARM missile, designed to seek out electronic signal and target it. These FACs had been all retired due to engine problems, withdrawing the Standard ARMs from the fleet completely.

The South Korean Navy intends to deploy the land-attack Ch’onnyong on the KSS-II diesel submarines scheduled for procurement in 2007, and on the KDX-II Destroyers, and the KDX-III Destroyers, the first of which was completed in 2008. The Ch’onnyong complements the new Haesong anti-shipping cruise missile unveiled by the South Korean Navy in March 2006.