By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

South Korea's first Aegis-equipped destroyer, Sejong the Great, will begin operations Monday after 19 months of successful sea trials, the Navy said Sunday.

A commissioning ceremony will take place at a Navy Operations Command shipyard in Busan, it said in a news release.

The 7,600-ton KDX-III destroyer fitted with the Aegis Combat System is expected to play a key role in helping the Navy develop its blue-water capability beyond the traditional coastal defense against North Korean ships, Navy officials said.

The Aegis System, built by Lockheed Martin of the United States, is the world's premier surface-to-air/fire-control system, capable of simultaneous operations against aircraft, ballistic and cruise missiles, ships and submarines. Only a few countries, such as the United States, Japan, Spain and Norway, have Aegis warships.

The Navy launched its second KDX-III destroyer, named after Yi I, a prominent Confucian scholar of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), last month. One more hull will be commissioned by 2012.

``I believe Aegis destroyers armed with state-of-the-art radar and air warfare defense systems will help safeguard our nation and ocean successfully,'' President Lee Myung-bak said in his congratulatory message during the ceremony to mark the launch of the second Aegis destroyer. ``With the launch of Aegis ships, I hope our military diplomacy will be further expanded."

The KDX-III ship is the core of the Navy's pursuit of building ``strategic mobile squadrons,'' also involving 14,000-ton large-deck landing platforms, 4,500-ton KDX-II destroyers, 1,800-ton Type 214 submarines, frigates and anti-submarine Lynx helicopters.

The ship's SPY-1D radar can track some 1,000 aircraft within a 500-kilometer radius simultaneously, providing full 360-degree coverage. They can carry SM-2 ship-to-air missiles with a range of 170 kilometers.

The destroyer can transport two mid-sized helicopters and 300 crewmembers. It is able to sail at a maximum speed of 30 knots, with a cruising range of 10,000 kilometers. Its per-unit price is $1 billion.

The 166-meter-long, 21-meter-wide vessel can carry 128 sophisticated missiles, including locally-developed ship-to-ship missiles in its MK41 Vertical Launch System and Korea Vertical Launch System, and torpedoes.

Missile systems for the ship include ship-to-air SM-2 Block IIIA/B Tactical Standard missiles, built by Raytheon Systems, with a range of 170 kilometers; Cheonryong (sky dragon) ship-to-surface cruise missiles with a range of more than 500 kilometers; and Hongsangeo (red shark) long-range ship-to-submarine torpedoes with a target range of 19 kilometers.

Among other major armaments are the 150-kilometer-range Hae Seong (sea star) ship-to-ship missiles, the RAM MK-31 guided missiles, a 30-mm ``Goalkeeper'' system for engaging incoming sea-skimming anti-ship missiles and a 5-inch/62-caliber MK 45 Mod 4 lightweight gun.

The ship is equipped with radar-evading stealth technology and the domestically-built SLQ-200(V) SONATA electronic warfare system.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr