L-SAM. The L-SAM (Long-range Surface-to-Air Missile; ) is a South Korean multi-layered missile defense system developed by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD). The performance levels are superior to Patriot and KM-SAM missiles, showing almost double the performance compared to the aforementioned missiles. It has a hot launch type missile system that is different from KM-SAM, a cold launch type.

The development of L-SAM Block 1 was officially completed in May 2024 and was declared fit for combat by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

Design and development

The L-SAM was developed with the aim of shooting down ballistic missiles such as North Korea's Hwasong-11A (KN-23) and Hwasong-11B (KN-24) in the terminal phase. It will be an upper-tier surface-to-air missile system for multi-layered defense as part of Republic of Korea Air Force's Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) project, which has been planned since the early 2020s, with the lower tier composed of Patriot PAC-3 and KM-SAM batteries.

The L-SAM system is expected to use two types of interceptors: one for anti-air meant to target general air breathing threats such aircraft or cruise missiles and the other for anti-ballistic. The anti-ballistic missile (ABM) consists of a total of three stages and uses a hit-to-kill system that intercepts targets with a kill vehicle with infrared sensors and precise flight control capabilities, and the missile interceptor will be capable of intercepting missiles at altitudes between 40 and 60 km. L-SAM demonstrated its intercept capability by succeeding three out of a total of four missile interception tests between November 2022 and June 2023.

The development of L-SAM Block 1 was completed in May 2024, and initial mass production will begin in 2025 and will be deployed to the Republic of Korea Air Force from 2028.

Battery configuration

The L-SAM battery is composed of a multifunction radar, a command-and-control (C2) center, a combat control station, and four truck-mounted launchers, two of each missile type. It will use a trailer-mounted S-band AESA radar.

 Command and control center: 1
 Combat control station: 1
 Multifunction radar: 1
 Launchers: 4
 Missiles per launcher: 6 (surface-to-air missiles and anti-ballistic missiles)

Improvements

L-SAM Block-II
On 25 April 2023, the 153rd Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee deliberated and approved on a plan to develop a new missile defense system with a higher intercepting altitude than the existing L-SAM with a budget of 2.71 trillion won by 2027. The new missile system, named L-SAM 2, includes high-altitude interceptor missiles and glide phase interceptor (GPI) missiles, and is estimated to have an interception altitude of 180 km.

See also
 KP-SAM
 K-SAM (based on Crotale)
 KM-SAM
 K-SAAM
 Comparison of anti-ballistic missile systems
 List of surface-to-air missiles
 List of anti-aircraft weapons

References

External links

 Flight and thrust control tests of L-SAM
 Video of L-SAM's ballistic missile interception test

Surface-to-air missiles of South Korea
Anti-ballistic missiles of South Korea
Missile defense
21st-century surface-to-air missiles
Post–Cold War weapons of South Korea
ADD research and development projects