The Future Australian Navy Ep.4 Hyundai’s Daegu Class FFX batch II  #defencenews #navy #australia
Channel: Soldiers Five
Date: 2024-02-29

South Korea has recently made a name for themselves in the arms export market with their massive sale to Poland in late 2023. 

They also recently won the bid to build the Redback IFV in Australia with a hybrid build plan that is certain to appeal to a Canberra that is chasing a similar deal for their future general-purpose frigates. 

Hyundai Heavy Industries has the perfect candidate for this proposal, the Daegu Class Frigate an evolution of the previous Incheon design. 

At 2800 tons it is certainly one of the smaller designs being considered by the Albanese government but with a hangar big enough for an MH-60R, 5” main gun, 16 K-VLS cells, CIWS, 8 SSM, Hull mounted and towed array sonar it punches well above its weight. 

This ASW prowess however, may be its Achilles heel as Australia has already begun construction of the Hunter Class ASW frigate and with the Daegu already having to modify its existing K-VLS for the standard Mark 41 system utilised by the RAN it may prove too much of a capability overlap for an acquisition team looking to procure a product with the minimum redesign work required.