LP-X Dokdo - Program
A new design amphibious landing ship, the first LPX was initially planned for delivery in 2005. The LPX project is the Korean Navy (ROKN)'s helicopter ship project for which Hanjin Heavy Industries has provided the general design package. The ROKN has a well-defined requirement for new amphibious ships to significantly enhance Korea's current AMW capability, both in terms of assault and OOTW operations. In a speech delivered in March 2001, President Kim Dae Jung stated that his administration was aiming to build a navy that "will defend the national interests in the five oceans and perform a role in defending world peace." By the year 2020, the ROK Navy planned to deploy two or three rapid response fleets, each comprising of 1 LPX, 1 KDX-III, 2~3 KDX-II, and possibly a number of FFX frigates and one or two AIP submarines.
By mid-2001 a substantial portion of Korea's W10 trillion weapon introduction projects were facing delay due to budget and political reasons. Budget authorities were been reluctant to earmark funds to the projects citing the economic slump. Major projects facing indefinite postponement are the Air Force's W1.8 trillion E-X (airborne early warning control system) project and advanced anti-aircraft missile SAM-X system and the Navy's new landing ship LP-X projects.
The ROK Navy stated a need for at least one, but probably up to four, LPD-type units that to be procured under the LPX program. On 16 September 2002 a report by the Ministry of National Defense at the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly announced the construction of two 13,000-ton class amphibious vessels. And after some delays and funding troubles, 2 LPX ships had been approved by late 2004, with hope for more in the future.
Due to the high technical standards of the LPX project, the ROKN wished to purchase advanced foreign manufactured systems. The ROKN established technical specifications first, and procurement was then made through open bidding procedures. In order to help develop their technical specifications, the ROKN received in advance technical information from foreign companies interested in participating in the LPX Project. It went without saying that companies whose technical specifications were specially adapted for this particular project had a greater chance of being selected as foreign procurement contractors by the ROKN.
As a result of continued collaboration, CAE Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS) was selected for the LPx. The IPMS for LPx will take advantage of the latest proven technologies and experience that CAE gained during the development and deployment of the IPMS on the German Navy F-124 frigates and the Royal Netherlands' Navy LCF programs. The project would be accomplished through collaboration with Doosan Heavy Industries of Korea as part of a localisation agreement. The CAE IPMS monitored and controlled all the hull, electrical and mechanical devices of a ship, such as propulsion, electrical distribution, steering and battle damage control systems.
As of September 2002, SMART-L and SPS-48E were in competition for LPX's 3D VSR. SPN-46 and SPN-720 were also in the running for LPX's precision approach control radar. The ship's long range volume search radar will be Thales' SMART-L system.
In December 2002 Doosan Heavy Industries Construction Co (DHICO), S.E.M.T. Pielstick's Licensee in Korea, signed a contract for the supply of 30 MW propulsion plant with four 16 PC2.5 STC diesel engines for the first ship of the Korean Navy LPX program. The four engines will be built in Changwon by DHICO with the backup of S.E.M.T. Pielstick, in the frame of an industrial and co-operation agreement. The S.E.M.T. Pielstick 16 PC2.5 STC Diesel engine is a medium speed diesel engine rated at 7650 kW at 520 rpm equipped with the Sequential Turbo Charging (STC) system and fitted on resilient mountings. This contract is the result of 4 years' negotiations and close co-operation between all the partners, as the first request for proposal was issued on August 1998. This new order confirms the worldwide leader-ship of S.E.M.T. Pielstick Diesel engines for the propulsion of large Naval ships.
In 2003 AMS was awarded a contract by SangYong Information & Communication Corporation, Korea, for technical consultancy services in support of their local development of a Command Support System for the LPX Landing Platform Ship, designed for multi-helicopter operations and amphibious assault.
Thales Nederland and the Commanding General of the Defense Procurement Agency of the Korean Ministry of Defense signed contracts for the delivery of five Goalkeeper systems to the Korean Navy. The total contract value is about 51 million euros. The first system is to be delivered within 28 months.
Two Goalkeepers wre installed on the LPX (Landing Platform). The other three Goalkeepers are destined for the three KDXII - Batch 2 destroyers, for which the contracts for the Combat Direction System, including sensors, were signed earlier this year. With this order, the total number of Goalkeepers supplied to the Korean Navy would be 14.
The names are highly significant, with the ships of the class given provocative names [it is not for nothing that the Koreans are said to be the Irish of Asia]. The Dokdo Islands are in dispute with Japan, which also claims them. Marado is the most remote part of the ancient Korean Kingdom, and Beengnyeong Island is the most remote part of the DMZ with North Korea. Ieodo is a submerged rock that is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Korea, which considers it to lie within its EEZ, also referring to it as Parangdo, and the People's Republic of China which refers to it as Suyan Rock.It is called Socotra Rock by Western sources.
The first unit was scheduled to be launched in March 2005 and was to be operational in June 2007. On 12 July 2005, South Korea launched the first LPX amphibious landing ship at the shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries & Constructions Co. in Busan. The ship, named "Dokdo", was scheduled to be handed over to the South Korean Navy in 2007. At the moment of the launch, a wooden mock-up version of the Thales' SMART-L radar system took the place of the actual system that was still being tested in Hengelo, Thales-NL's headquarters. The Dokdo was named after South Korea's easternmost islets, and launched amid the patriotic fervor surrounding the spat with Japan over Korea's islets in the East Sea.
HHIC initiated the construction of Dokdo in 2002 and launched the ship in 2005. After successfully passing operation and performance tests, it was handed over the ROK Navy in 2007. The Dokdo-class Landing Platform Helicopter (LPH) is considered that it has improved amphibious capability of the ROK Navy. With full load displacement of 18,800 tons, ‘Dokdo’ has 199m of length, 31m of breadth with 6.6m of draft and 23 knots of maximum speed. It is also equipped with helicopter, fast landing ship, tank and so on, with ability to put around 700 landing forces to the area of operations. The second large landing craft utility is to be built based on the guide ship. Its performance will be enhanced through the improvement of design and installation of state-of-the-art equipment.
Japan said it would protest South Korea's choice of names. "It is truly regrettable that the name was used on the vessel despite repeated requests by the Japanese government not to do so," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told reporters. "I expect the (Foreign) ministry to protest strongly once again."
The Navy initially planned to develop another similar ship by 2010. This ship was cancelled once, but the budget was restored in 2012. This unit was to be named after Marado Island, which is located 11 km offshore from Moseulpo harbor. It is thought of as the ending and beginning point of Korea. A monument stands recognizing it as the southernmost point of the country.
According to some sources, the third ship was cancelled during the period of Lee Myung-bak government. The third unit was to be named after Baek-ryong Island, which is located in the West Sea (Yellow Sea). Paeng-ryong-do / Baek-Ryong / Paek Ryong / Baeng-nyeongdo / Paik-Ryong Island is the spot closest to the 38th parallel on the southern side and the site of fierce combat during the Korean War. Spotted seals live on on the island, which is fortified as strongly as the mainland. Some think it is likely that the spy operations are still ongoing from the old spy bases on the island.
In May 2008 Defense officials from South Korea and Turkey held five days of talks on bilateral defense cooperation in Ankara. Turkey was seeking a big deck amphibious ship, and turned to South Korea to build it. High on the agenda was South Korea's cooperation on Turkey's shipbuilding program to develop amphibious large-deck landing ships and tank landing ships.
As many as three further units were anticipated, though clearly this program is not moving as quickly as once anticipated. The second ship was originally scheduled to launch in 2008 and was commissioned in 2010; however, the South Korean National Assembly rejected the construction budget for the third and fourth vessels. By some accounts it was under construction, with launch expected in 2009 and commissioning expected in 2011, but it was funded only in 2012. Scheduled to be commissioned in 2019 as of 2011, by late 2014 it was reported that it had been laid down in 2012 with comissioning in 2018. The third was just a proposal - at one time launch was expected in 2013 and commissioning expected in 2016.
Since the global financial tsunami in 2008 had a significant impact on the Korean economy, the follow-on construction work at Dokdo was delayed. In mid-August 2012, due to increasing friction between Japan and South Korea on the Dokdo issue, the Korean Ministry of National Defense announced that it will build the Dokdo-class No. 2 Maro Island, which is expected to serve until 2019.
On December 23, 2014, the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea signed a contract with Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction to build a Marado vessel for KRW 417.5 billion. It was 1.28 times more expensive than the Dokdo, which contracted at 325.77 billion won.
Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction (HHIC) was named as the builder of the second Dokdo-class ship in addition to the first Dokdo ship HHIC (President & CEO Choi Sung-moon) was named as the builder of the second Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship. In a tender for the construction of the second Dokdo-class ship held by Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the company was named as the primary bidder. After going though the screening process, it signed a contract for the construction of the amphibious assault ship at KRW 417.5 billion with DAPA on December 23, 2014.
The Landing Platform Experimental (LPX) is an amphibious assault ship whose basic duty is to transport troops and their equipment. It can be used in commanding maritime operations such as Anti-surface Warfare (ASuW), Anti-air Warfare (AAW) and Anti-submarine Warfare (ASW). It is also available in government-led support activities such as disaster relief, maintenance of world peace and emergence evacuation of overseas Koreans. After building and handing over Dokdo ship seven years ago, HHIC was honored to construct the second Dokdo ship again.
The secondary LPX amphibious ship construction project was promoted to upgrade current Dokdo ship and improve the ROK Navy’s operational capabilities through the adoption of the latest technology and advanced equipment. It appears that it would upgrade the ROK Navy’s landing operation capabilities by having helicopters and High-Speed Landing Crafts (LCPFs) and significantly improving the landing operation capabilities.
An official from the ROK Navy anticipated that once they own two command ships which can carry out multipurpose operations in the offshore and in the open sea along with Dokdo ship, they would be able to operate warships more efficiently. An official from HHIC said, “Again, we were honored to be named as the builder of the second Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship.” He added, “With a perfect construction of the ship based on 100% our design, we are going to make a contribution to the improvement of national defense and maritime security.”
South Korea's new amphibious assault ship made its public debut 14 May 2018, boasting improved combat and radar systems using the country's own technology. Defense Minister Song Young-moo hosted the launch ceremony for the Marado [Maro Island] at the shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. in Busan in the afternoon, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration [DAPA]. The minister's wife Koo Ja-jeong cut the rope tethering the vessel with a hand axe in a symbolic tradition for the ceremonial launch of a naval ship.
Named after the nation's southernmost island, it wase the South Korean Navy's second large-scale transport ship after the Dokdo of the same class. It can sail at a maximum speed of 23 knots (some 41 km per hour) with some 300 crew members aboard. The Marado, 199 meters long and 31 meters wide, is capable of carrying more than 700 troops, armored vehicles, high-speed amphibious boats and helicopters.
Code-named LPH-6112, the Marado is also equipped with advanced radar and combat devices, including anti-ship guided missiles produced by South Korea, according to the DAPA. It has a 20-mm Phalanx close-in weapons system as well, while the Dokdo is installed with the 30-mm Goalkeeper gun. Compared to the Dokdo, the electronic equipment and equipment of the Maro Island are very different, including the equipment from Israel. Original SMART-L has been replaced with MF-STAR, MW-08 with SPS-550K, Goalkeeper CIWS with Phalanx CIWS, and RAM with K-VLS.
Major improvements include installation of Israeli Elbit EL/M-2248 (MF-STAR) S-Band AESA active phased array radar (four-sided fixed phase array antenna), one SPS-550K three-dimensional air-to-surface surveillance radar, etc. At the end of the island, K-VLS cells will house various domestic armament, including the navalized Cheongung KM-SAM known as Haegung.
Some accounts claim that Marado is 30% larger than the Dokdo, and 10 helicopters will be able to operate simultaneously. Dokdo is capable of simultaneously operating six helicopters. If the full displacement of the ship is 1.3 times larger than that of the 18,800 tons of Dokdo, the full discharge of the ship will exceed 24,440 tons. The Japanse Izumo, with a total displacement of 27,000 tons, is capable of operating nine helicopters simultaneously.
The Marado would be delivered to the Navy in late 2020 after trial operations, the DAPA said. Besides combat missions, the vessel will be used to support disaster rescue or international peacekeeping operations, it added.
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