BMD Focus: Turnaround in Seoul -- Part 2

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- South Korea's President-elect Lee Myung-dak is having an immediate impact on his country's ballistic-missile defense programs, even before he is sworn into office.

In previous BMD columns, we noted the irony that South Korea, a nation under a greater close-range BMD threat than any other industrial democracy in the world except Israel, has been far more cautious, slow-moving and even complacent in developing its BMD defenses than neighboring Japan, India or Taiwan.

However, this is now changing, and it is changing fast. On Monday, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that the South Korean Defense Ministry is already considering arming the South Korean Navy's 7,600-ton-class Aegis destroyers, including a King Sejong the Great-class ship, with the latest U.S.-built Standard Missile-6 anti-ballistic missile interceptors to defend against and destroy North Korean ballistic missiles.

Such a decision would certainly be bold. The existing Standard Missile-3s have already established an impressive record of test interceptions. However, as the Chosun Ilbo noted, development of the SM-6 has not been completed.

Nevertheless, the newspaper reported that the new plans in Seoul call for at least 100 SM-6s to be ready for action Sejong the Great-class destroyers and on other South Korean warships within the next five years.

The paper also noted the contrast between the boldness of the new plan and the caution of previous proposals that the former South Korean governments of Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Dae-jung had refused to pursue.

Back in 2001-2002, the newspaper said that the South Korean Defense Ministry had wanted to buy Standard Missile-2 Block IVA missiles for the nation's Aegis radar system-equipped destroyers. But the government of the time nixed the idea and until now it remained a dead letter.

However, the Chosun Ilbo said in its report that a senior Defense Ministry official stated Sunday that South Korea now intends "to deploy SM-6 long-range sea-to-air missiles on the King Sejong-class destroyer, which we launched last year, and two other Aegis destroyers that will be built. A lot of progress has been made in Seoul-Washington talks on their purchase."

The paper noted that the SM-6 is believed be able to operate out to a distance of 190 miles to 240 miles and to have the capability of destroying incoming intermediate-range ballistic missiles as high as 18 miles -- 90,000 feet.

SM-3s, being developed by the United States and Japan, however, have a greater interception distance of about 300 miles and can intercept incoming missiles at heights of up to 96 miles -- around 100,000 feet, the paper noted.

This disparity has sparked a significant debate within South Korean defense circles, the Chosun Ilbo said. But the bottom line is, the paper said, that South Korean military officials recognize -- as we have pointed out in previous BMD Focus columns -- that to be effective at all, any Standard Missile interceptors operated by the South Korean navy will have to be operationally integrated into the U.S. BMD system in real time, in order to have access to U.S. satellite reconnaissance and advanced tracking radar arrays.

Even the SM-6 would be a very considerable advance on the outmoded Standard Missile-2 systems being carried on King Sejong the Great-class destroyers. The Chosun Ilbo noted that these only can operate out to a distance of less than 90 miles and have very limited interception capabilities.

The paper noted in addition to SM-6 missiles, current South Korean plans also call for the eventual purchase and deployment of U.S.-built Patriot Advanced Capability, or PAC-3 land-based interceptor batteries.