South Korea marks completion of KVLS-II development project

ROKS Jeongjo Daewang , the lead ship in South Korea's KDX III Batch II programme. It is also the first ship to be equipped with the KVLS-II weapon system. (HD Hyundai Heavy Industries)

South Korea has held a ceremony to mark the completion of a programme to develop the KVLS-II shipborne launcher for next-generation guided weapons.

A ceremony to mark the milestone for the project was held on 25 September at Hanwha Aerospace's Changwon facility, the company said in a statement that was issued on the same day.

It marks the culmination of a five-year development effort led by the private sector in collaboration with government agencies, the company said in its statement.

The KVLS-II project was first supervised by the country's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) but was subsequently transferred under the responsibility of Hanwha Aerospace for further development and production.

Under its supervision, DAPA had invested approximately KRW71 billion (USD51 million) into the programme, a separate statement that was also issued by the agency on 25 September to mark the milestone said.

The KVLS-II is an evolution of the country's indigenously developed Korean vertical launching system (K-VLS).

Given its ability to better withstand high-temperature and high-pressure exhaust from launches when compared with its predecessor, the KVLS-II can accommodate larger and more capable missile types.

Furthermore, each cell in the KVLS-II array can launch a wider array of precision-guided projectiles including anti-surface, anti-ship, and anti-air missiles, Hanwha Aerospace said in its statement.

The system also incorporates redundancy features to ensure continued operation even if there are problems encountered in one of the cells, the company added.

The first warship that received the KVLS-II weapon system is ROKS Jeongjo Daewang