Hanwha Systems VS LIG Nex1 'KDDX Contract Competition'

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu Reporter] Defense companies Hanwha Systems and LIG Nex1 have entered a prideful competition over the development project of the combat system that will serve as the brain of the Korean next-generation destroyer (KDDX).

On the 28th, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) held the 126th Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee meeting the previous day and reviewed and approved the basic system development plan, which mainly aims to secure the KDDX combat system through domestic research and development.

KDDX is larger than the 4,200-ton Korean destroyer (KDX-II) but smaller than the 7,600-ton Aegis destroyer (KDX-III), the main force of the Navy's mobile units, and is thus called a "mini Aegis ship." The KDDX combat system project is a program to secure a shipborne combat system necessary for missions such as detecting and tracking enemy ballistic missiles, air defense, anti-ship warfare, and land attack. DAPA plans to invest a total project cost of about 670 billion KRW by 2030. The contractor will be selected by the end of this year.

DAPA expects Hanwha Systems and LIG Nex1 to challenge the combat system project, which is being developed purely based on domestic technology.

Hanwha Systems boasts accumulated experience in the shipborne combat system field. Over the past 30 years, Hanwha Systems has powered more than 80 combat systems for the Republic of Korea Navy’s destroyers, frigates, high-speed boats, and submarines. It is currently carrying out the development project of the combat management system for the Ulsan-class next-generation frigate Batch-III, including a complex sensor mast integrating a four-sided fixed multifunction phased array radar and infrared detection and tracking equipment.

LIG Nex1’s strength lies in its development experience and core personnel in Sensor to Shooter systems, from radar to command and fire control systems. LIG Nex1 has developed various guided weapons mounted on naval vessels, shipborne search radars, sonar systems, shipborne electronic warfare systems (SONATA), and shipborne multi-band multifunction radios (TMMR). It also successfully completed the power-up of the integrated combat system for the Jangbogo-I performance improvement project.

Meanwhile, at the same Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee meeting, the "Korean Joint Tactical Data Link System (Completed Version) Basic System Development Plan (Draft)" was also approved. The Korean Joint Tactical Data Link System project aims to secure a domestically developed system that can share and transmit tactical information such as position, targets, and threats in real time among land, sea, and air weapon systems. The completed version is known to have improved transmission speed and added anti-jamming functions compared to the existing basic version. The contract is scheduled to be signed in the third quarter of this year. The project period is from 2020 to 2026, with a total project cost of about 320 billion KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.