South Korea wants BMD capability for their destroyers

[CougarKing]

Aren't the ROKN's Sejong the Great class DDGs pretty much carbon copies of Japan's Kongo and Atago AEGIS destroyers?

US Naval Institute

Report: South Korea Wants BMD Capability for Guided Missile Destroyers

By: Sam LaGrone
August 15, 2016 4:30 AM • Updated

South Korea is considering adding Raytheon SM-3 missiles to its fleet of Aegis guided missile destroyers to give the ships a ballistic missile defense capability, according to local press reports.

An unidentified South Korean military official told the Yonhap news service last week that Washington and Seoul are set to start discussing for a missile purchase soon as an additional hedge against North Korean ballistic missiles.

The ROK Navy currently fields three Sejong the Great-class guided missile destroyers (DDG-991) with the same radar and launch system as the U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class BMD guided missile destroyers. The Koreans are planning three additional ships in the class.

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[CougarKing]

Semi-related: More to make Japan's Kongos and Atagos, not to mention South Korea's Sejong class DDGs, more lethal...

Defense News

Japanese, South Korean Destroyers Upgrade to Aegis Baseline 9
By: Wendell Minnick, August 25, 2016
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Japan and South Korea will outfit their new destroyers with Aegis Baseline 9 as part of an overall program by both countries to improve its integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) system, the latest evolution in the Aegis Combat System (ACS).

The $490 million deal, announced by the US government’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program on Aug. 12, will include  Lockheed Martin's SPY-1 radar.

“When paired with the MK 41 Vertical Launching System, it is capable of delivering missiles for every mission and threat environment in naval warfare,” according to an Aug. 15 Lockheed Martin news release.

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[Colin Parkinson]

the title of the thread had me thinking they were strapping these to the deck