Седжон да Улы эсминцтер классы

Class of South Korean destroyers
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Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering
| Operators =
| Class before =
| Class after = KDDX class destroyer
| Subclasses =
| Built range =
| In commission range =
| Total ships building = 2
| Total ships planned = 6
| Total ships completed = 4
| Total ships cancelled =
| Total ships active = 3
| Cost = $923 million

On 20 April 2007, South Korean Chief of Naval Operations announced that the lead ship of KDX III class destroyers will be referred to as Sejong the Great. Sejong the Great (Hangul: 세종대왕) is the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He is credited with the creation of the indigenous Korean system of writing.

The Sejong the Great class is the third phase of the South Korean navy's Korean Destroyer eXperimental (KDX) program, a substantial shipbuilding program, which is geared toward enhancing ROKN's ability to successfully defend the maritime areas around South Korea from various modes of threats as well as becoming a blue water navy. At 8,500 tons standard displacement and 11,000 tons full load, the KDX III Sejong the Great destroyers are the largest destroyers in the South Korean Navy and larger than most destroyers in the navies of other countries. They are built slightly bulkier and heavier than s or s to accommodate 32 more missiles. As such, some analysts believe that this class of ships is more appropriately termed a class of cruisers rather than destroyers.

Sejong the Great class destroyers' main gun is the 127 mm/L62 Mk 45 Mod 4 naval gun, an improved version of the same gun used on other warships from several other nations. Point defense armaments include one 30 mm Goalkeeper CIWS and a RIM 116 Rolling Airframe Missile Block 1 21 round launcher, the first Aegis platform to carry RAM. Anti aircraft armament consists of SM 2 Block IIIA and IIIB in 80 total Mk 41 VLS cells. Block IIIB has added infrared (IR) induction mode to Block IIIA, improving interception capability. Anti submarine warfare armaments consists of both K ASROC Hong Sang uh (Red Shark) anti submarine rockets, which have the same form as the U. S. ASROC, and 32 K745 LW Cheong Sang uh (Blue Shark) torpedoes. Anti ship capability is provided by 16 SSM 700K Hae Sung (Sea Star) long range anti ship missiles, each with performance similar to the U. S. Harpoon. It is equipped on a navy ship that is built after the late KDX II destroyers. Land attack capability is provided by the Hyunmoo III cruise missile. The Sejong the Great class destroyers are often compared to the Arleigh Burke and Atago classes because they utilize the AN/SPY 1D multi function radar, and have similar propulsion and capabilities. One notable difference between the Sejong the Great class ships and Arleigh Burkes is the number of VLS cells. Destroyers of the Sejong the Great class have a capacity of 128 missiles, as opposed to 96 on the Arleigh Burke class and the Japanese Atago class destroyers. The Sejong the Great class is thus one of the most heavily armed ships in the world, with greater missile capacity than the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy Type 055 destroyer (112 VLS cells). The Sejong the Great class is surpassed in VLS depth only by the with 352 missiles (entire missile load). Another similarity to Arleigh Burke Flight IIA and Atago class destroyers is the presence of full facilities for two helicopters, a feature missing from earlier Arleigh Burke and s.

In August 2016, press reports revealed that South Korea was considering adding the SM 3 interceptor to its Sejong the Great class ships to enable them to perform ballistic missile defense in response to North Korean efforts to bolster offensive missile capabilities. This came months after the U. S. decision to deploy the THAAD missile interceptor system on mainland South Korea. The addition of SM 3s to the ships may require software and computer hardware upgrades. The following month, Aegis manufacturer Lockheed Martin confirmed the next three Sejong the Great vessels will be capable of performing "integrated air and missile defense" (IAMD) to supplement U. S. Army ground based missile interceptors on the peninsula, likely being outfitted with the SM 3. While the first three destroyers are fitted with Aegis Baseline 7 based on older proprietary computers that can't carry out IAMD operations, the following three will be fitted with the Baseline 9 version of the Aegis Combat System that combines modern computing architecture to allow the AN/SPY 1D(V) radar to perform air warfare and BMD missions at the same time.