The US State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to South Korea of subsonic sea-skimming aerial targets (SSATs) and related elements of logistics and programme support, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced on 7 March 2024.
The sale, which is worth an estimated USD 170.6 million (EUR 156 million), has been passed to the US Congress for final approval.
South Korea has requested to buy five BQM-177A SSATs for its KDX-III Batch II Aegis-class destroyers. Also included are GQM-163 target drones; classified books and other publications (technical and non-technical); test support; technical documentation; personnel training; US government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistics and programme support.
The BQM-177A is the US Navy’s next-generation SSAT. Capable of speeds in excess of Mach 0.95 and a sea-skimming altitude as low as 2 m, the BQM-177A’s capabilities allow it to successfully emulate a high-subsonic, sea-skimming anti-ship cruise missile threat.
The lead ship of the three-vessel KDX-III Batch II destroyer programme, ROKS Jeongjo the Great, was launched on 28 July 2022 and is scheduled to be delivered to the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) in November 2024.
The proposed BQM-177A SSAT sale “will improve the Republic of Korea’s capability to meet current and future threats by performing combat system ship qualification trials (CSSQT) for its new KDX-III Batch II Aegis-class destroyers”, the DSCA stated. “The KDX-III Batch-II CSSQT efforts will demonstrate the ship’s ability to safely and effectively launch and control weapons, demonstrate proper integrated hardware operation, demonstrate system performance based on key requirements, and provide realistic training for the shipboard anti-air warfare firing teams.”
The principal contractor for the BQM-177A SSAT will be Kratos Defense out of its facilities in Sacramento, California, and Fort Walton Beach, Florida, while the principal contractor for the GQM-163A target drones will be Northrop Grumman out of its site in Chandler, Arizona.
