The Republic of Korea's DAPA announced on April 26, 2024, that the FFX Batch IV programme had been approved.
Naval News reports that FFX Batch IV, as a successor to FFX Batch III frigates, will incorporate more indigenously developed systems. The new frigates’ form will be heavily based on that of FFX Batch III.
One of the new indigenous systems will be CIWS-II, incorporating a 30 mm Gatling gun, four-panel AESA search radars, and a coaxial AESA fire control radar for close-range defence against missiles and boats.
The ships will have K-VLS type vertical launch cells for SAAM-400K point defence missiles and Red Shark ASROC.
A new electronic warfare suite named “Electronic Warfare Equipment for Ship-II” will also be present.
In summary, FFX Batch IV can be described as an update on the design of FFX Batch III frigates. ROK had a similar approach with its second batch of Sejong the Great-class destroyers, where an important portion of the equipment was changed, and the core design remained the same.
ROK is also working on KDDX destroyers as a smaller follow-up to Sejong the Great class. The ships with higher automation will be the first in the ROKN to use the Integrated Electric Propulsion System.
ROK Approves FFX Batch IV Frigates
