SKorea, US team up to build and export Aegis warships

US defence group Lockheed Martin and South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries will team up to build and export mid-size warships equipped with advanced Aegis weapons systems, an official said Wednesday.
They signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in May 2006 to jointly produce Aegis-equipped guided missile ships, Hyundai Heavy spokesman Cho Woo-Tae told AFP.

Cho said it is thought to be very rare for Lockheed to partner with a foreign company to produce Aegis-equipped vessels for possible sale to a third country.

Aegis, one of the most advanced naval defence systems, is designed to simultaneously track and destroy a multiple number of incoming missiles.

Asked why the agreement was not made public for three years, the spokesman said Hyundai Heavy rarely discloses MoUs. “I believe Lockheed decided to disclose it to the media probably because there is some progress in looking for buyers.”

Hyundai Heavy is the world’s biggest shipbuilder.

“The idea is that the partnership would make it possible to build high profit-margin warships at a reasonable price,” said Cho.

Concrete terms need to be fixed but the two firms could produce 4,000 to 6,000-ton ships under the joint project, Cho said.

He added the vessels could be sold to third countries such as India but no firm decisions had been made given the sensitivity of the technology.

South Korea’s navy in May 2007 launched its first Aegis-equipped warship, the 7,600-ton Sejong the Great, jointly built by Hyundai and Lockheed.

It was used to track North Korea’s long-range rocket launch in April, along with US Aegis ships.

South Korea plans to launch a second Aegis destroyer in 2010 and a third in 2012, in an attempt to keep up with the naval powers of Japan and China.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/SKorea_US_team_up_to_build_and_export_Aegis_warships_999.html

I cant wait to see some designs from this partnership. If I were a nation looking to build up its fleet again this would be music to my ears. I think Canada, Chile , New Zealand should be looking at what comes out of this.

for the time scale people are going to demand we cant get Merlins. Lets buy a helicopter thats already in theatre in mass numbers so that if we have an issue with spares we can get them off the yanks in an emergency. Those boys are already flying in spare parts every week of the year so lets say great supply lines can you add a few of this and that for us.

We buy 10-20 hawks now and im sure we can get them crewed and in afghanistan in no time.

Simply because those two factors would drive up the running costs year-on-year, which far outweigh initial acquisition costs, for no useable advantage.

CVF with STOVL is the best solution possible for UK Carrier Strike. Its not the best solution to make CVF a Fleet Carrier but thats not the RN requirement right now!.

Thats fine and everything, I still believe they should be fitted with EMALS when they are launched and wires.

I think we should continue to look at ways to make the CVF more effective and without doubt the inclusion of these things would help. We could operate Hawkeyes, we could look to purchase a limited number of Growlers e.t.c

I know its fairy tale stuff but I would much rather they were fitted with than for.

uh-oh…

I for one would not be worried about allowing the Russians to join in with the CVF project, hell between the Russians and the British we wrote the book on ski ramp carriers! Especially if our ship yards get to build them.

I wouldnt like to share the development of frigates and destroyers and subs, but everything else lets get some cash in.

Hey Maxi – had a look at your ship again and tried to convert it into shipbucket style.

Some slight changes to use parts already out there but hope you like it.

Ha, I was wondering when you might find this board maximuscle those were my first ships done in paint I have some
New ideas for them now trying to get them done to shipbucket standards 🙂
.

When I get back from prague I was going to have a stab at another couple of c1 designs .