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| Dokdo Class Light Carrier |
With its second light Dokdo Class carrier currently undergoing sea trials, and with a new 30,000 ton medium weight carrier class approved in early August, South Korea is currently also considering
commissioning carriers of a third and far heavier class. With the country’s famously cost effective and efficient shipbuilding industry highly experienced in building large and sophisticated warships, a larger carrier design displacing around 70,000 tons could be highly feasible - and has recently been proposed by Choi Jae Sung, an influential member of the country's ruling Democratic Party. While lighter than nuclear powered super-carriers such as the American Nimitz Class and upcoming Chinese Type 003 Class, which displace 100,000 tons or more, this heavy carrier would be in the same weight range as the Chinese Type 001A Class and the Russian Kuznetsov Class - the largest conventionally powered carriers in the world.
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| F-35C Carrier Based Fighter |
While South Korea’s 30,000 ton ships are reportedly set to deploy F-35B vertical landing capable stealth fighters, with their short runways and lack of arresting gear preventing them from deploying conventional carrier based fighters, the new heavy warship is reportedly intended to deploy the F-35C - which could well make South Korea the first foreign client for the jets. The F-35C is less costly than the F-35B, and while it does not integrate a vertical landing capability it is considerably more capable with a longer range, higher takeoff weight and greater manoeuvrability. If equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system at additional cost, the carrier could also launch fighters at a much heavier weight. The ability to accommodate other classes of fixed wing aircraft would allow the warship to potentially deploy carrier onboard delivery aircraft such as the C-2 Greyhound and carrier based AWACS platforms such as the E-2 Hawkeye - the former to accommodate long distance missions and the latter to provide a force multiplier in battle and greater situational awareness.
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| Chinese Type 001A |
South Korea’s major maritime rival Japan has notably also considered acquiring a heavier class of carrier, and will deploy these alongside the two 27,000 ton Izumo Class ships which were built to accommodate the F-35B and the two lighter Hyuga Class helicopter carriers. With Lockheed Martin running a relatively small production line for F-35C fighters due to a lack of foreign demand, competing carrier programs among its allies in Northeast Asia could serve as a major boost to production and significantly lower the unit cost the United States Navy itself pays for the fighters due to the benefits of economies of scale. What the government in Seoul finally decides for its carrier program, and how many carriers it will deploy in the long term, remains to be seen. With some of the world’s most capable destroyers and a sizeable fleet of high endurance surface combat ships already deployed, South Korea’s Navy is well positioned to accommodate the delivery of new carriers.
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