Military introduces ‘US SM-3’ that intercepts Iranian missile… shot down at a higher altitude than THAAD

The ballistic missile interception weapon ‘SM-3’, which is known to have been recently used by the US military to prevent Iranian missile and drone attacks against Israel, is expected to be introduced to our military. SM-3 is used to intercept ballistic missiles flying at altitudes of 100 to 1,000 km. The interception altitude is higher than that of THAAD, making it possible to shoot down enemy missiles even outside the atmosphere.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration announced on the 26th that it decided to secure the Maritime Ballistic Missile Interceptor (SM-3) through overseas purchase at the 161st Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Defense Acquisition Program Committee) meeting held at the Ministry of National Defense building. It was decided to introduce the SM-3 made by Raytheon, a U.S. defense company, by 2030 with a total project cost of 803.9 billion won. Considering that the price of each SM-3 is more than 20 billion won, the number of launches is estimated to be about 40. SM-3 is deployed on the Navy’s next-generation Aegis destroyer (King Jeongjo). The need for the SM-3 introduction project was first raised in 2013, but it drifted due to controversy over its incorporation into the U.S. Missile Defense (MD) system and controversy over military efficiency compared to price, but with this decision, it is back on track for the first time in 11 years.

As rapid steps toward introducing the SM-3 begin, our military’s interception system is expected to become more dense. Currently, the Korean Peninsula is equipped with ballistic missile interception systems such as Cheongung-2 (interception altitude 15-20km), Patriot (15-40km), and THAAD (40-150km). With the introduction of SM-3 (100-1,000 km) and L-SAM (40-60 km), which are expected to be deployed in 2025, North Korea’s nuclear defense capabilities are expected to increase.

Yang Wook, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said, “The SM-3 interception system can be effective when North Korea launches an attack through high-angle launches of the ‘Hwasong-12’ hypersonic missile unveiled last year.” The SM-3 is known to have recently proven its combat capabilities in the downing of an Iranian ballistic missile targeting Israel.

The Navy believes that if SM-3 is introduced, it will be able to intercept North Korean reconnaissance satellites. A Navy official said, “In the case of the King Jeongjo-class destroyer, the Aegis radar detection range reaches an altitude of 2,000 km, so it is possible to intercept North Korean reconnaissance satellites orbiting in low Earth orbit (about 500 km).” North Korea launched its first military reconnaissance satellite, ‘Manrikyeong-1’, in November last year. The Great Mirror 1 is operating in low-Earth orbit. In fact, it is known that in 2008, the U.S. Navy launched an SM-3 to shoot down the country’s broken spy satellite.

According to military sources, the goal of SM-3 is to be operated on the King Jeongjo-class destroyer, of which one is currently in operational deployment. A plan to build additional King Jeongjo-class destroyers and mount SM-3s is likely. Although it is difficult to immediately deploy the Sejong class destroyer, it is said that SM-3 operation is technically possible if the combat system is upgraded. However, in this case, an upgrade cost of tens of millions of dollars is expected to be necessary.

The military’s position was that the SM-3 was essential for completing the Korean Missile Defense (KAMD) system, but project progress was delayed due to controversy over the incorporation of the US missile defense (MD) system, which China and Russia are sensitive to. This is because in the past, there was a strong perception that SM-3 was a weapon system that intercepted intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) launched by China, Russia, or North Korea toward the U.S. mainland at an intermediate stage rather than when North Korea attacked South Korea.

There was also a question as to whether there was a need to operate SM-3, a defense system with a higher interception altitude than THAAD, on the Korean Peninsula, which has a short depth. Since North Korea is likely to use short-range missiles first when attacking the South, the SM-3, which costs more than 20 billion won per missile, is said to have low military efficiency compared to its price.

A DAPA official met with reporters that day and said, “It is completely separate” from some people’s claim that the introduction of SM-3 is an incorporation of the U.S. MD system. At the same time, he said, “This is to supplement the Korean missile defense system, which only has ballistic missile descent stage interceptors, with mid-stage interceptor missiles with an interception altitude of 100 km or more.” A military source said, “Through the introduction of SM-3, we can send a message that we will protect our ally, the United States,” and added, “We should not only look at the Korean Peninsula.”

There are observations both inside and outside the military that the appointment of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (General) Kim Myeong-soo, who was from the Navy, also had an influence on the sudden decision to introduce the SM-3 on this day. This is because mounting a ballistic missile interception system on ships was a long-awaited project for the Navy. The introduction of SM-3 gained momentum in 2017 when Song Young-moo, former Chief of Naval Staff, was appointed as Minister of Defense under the Moon Jae-in administration, but discussions died down when Minister Song was replaced in 2018.

Meanwhile, on this day, the Defense Security Committee also decided on a plan to build the Ulsan-class Batch-IV ship and the domestic development of long-range air-to-air missiles. The Ulsan-class Deployment-IV project is a project to build the latest frigates to replace guard ships such as aging patrol ships and escort ships. The project period is until 2032, and the total project cost is 3.2525 trillion won. The long-range air-to-air guided missile project is a project to secure domestically developed air-to-air missiles to be installed on the Korean fighter KF-21.