South Korea has formally approved the acquisition of US-made RIM-174 Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) interceptors to equip its new KDX-III Batch II Aegis destroyers, also known as the Jeongjo the Great class. The purchase is conducted via the US Foreign Military Sales program and was validated during the 175th meeting of the Defense Project Promotion Committee.
The decision follows an April 2022 announcement by the Ministry of National Defense to procure SM-6 missiles for approximately 600 million dollars, later revised to 530 billion won, or about 392 million dollars, with deliveries and deployment planned through 2034. An earlier plan envisaged around one hundred missiles, but both budget and quantities were subsequently reduced.
The SM-6 is a long-range surface-to-air missile capable of engaging aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles in their terminal phase at altitudes up to about 36 km, with a range exceeding 400 km. It uses an active radar seeker, enabling autonomous target tracking.
KDX-III Batch II destroyers integrate the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 KII combat system and AN/SPY-1D(V) radar, allowing the operation of SM-2, SM-3 and SM-6 from Mk 41 vertical launchers. They also field Korean K-VLS and K-VLS II cells for national missiles, including surface-to-air, anti-submarine and land-attack weapons. Together, these capabilities provide South Korea with a credible sea-based ballistic missile defense layer against North Korean missile threats.