South Korea Boosts Aegis Fleet Defense with New U.S. SM-6 Missiles

[Herald Economy = Yoon Ho, Reporter] The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said May 22 that it has reviewed and approved the selection of the long-range, ship-launched SM-6 air-defense missile and the basic system development plan for the Military Satellite Communications System-III.

DAPA made the announcement after holding the 175th meeting of the Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee at the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan, Seoul.

The SM-6 program will acquire U.S.-made SM-6 missiles for installation on King Sejong the Great–class Aegis destroyers (KDX-III Batch-II) through a government-to-government Foreign Military Sales (FMS) arrangement.

In March 2023, at the committee’s 150th meeting, DAPA approved a revised basic strategy for the “SM-6-class” program and a first purchase plan. The U.S. State Department granted provisional approval for the sale in November 2023.

When the program was approved in 2023, the total cost including a second purchase was estimated at about 770 billion KRW (roughly $577.5 million) with a schedule running from 2023 to 2031. The plan has since been revised to about 530 billion KRW (roughly $397.5 million), with the timeline extended to 2023–2034. Officials said the government initially planned to buy roughly 100 SM-6 missiles, but a reduced procurement quantity lowered the program cost.

DAPA said the SM-6 acquisition will strengthen Aegis destroyers’ defenses against anti-ship ballistic missiles, aircraft and cruise missiles, and improve their ballistic-missile response capability.

At the same meeting, the committee also approved the basic system development plan for the Military Satellite Communications System-III. Led by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), the program will develop a military geostationary communications satellite and its ground control and terminal systems. The research and development effort is budgeted at about 1.27 trillion KRW (roughly $952.5 million) from this year through 2032.

DAPA said the System-III program aims to field the new satellite before existing systems retire, replace aging ground infrastructure, increase communications capacity, domesticize critical components, improve operational readiness, and ensure more stable command-and-control for military forces.