ROK Navy to Unveil Land Attack Cruise Missile

This video is of the French land attack cruise missile,

SCALP Naval, which is known to be similar in capability with the Sky Dragon.

Following years of development, as well as ongoing difficulties with North Korea and a major concern brewing across the West Sea, the South Korean media has reported the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) is close to deploying its first-ever land attack cruise missile, the Sky Dragon ('Cheonryeong').

Citing government sources, the Chosun Ilbo reported the missile will be deployed "sometime this year" aboard ROKN destroyers equipped with the Korean Vertical Launch System (KVLS), which include a portion of the six 4,500-ton KDX-2 destroyers and all three of the 7,500-ton AEGIS-equipped KDX-3 destroyers, the third unit of which is to be launched sometime this year.

With a maximum range of 500km, the Sky Dragon should be capable of addressing numerous targets within the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), including one of the DPRK's more prominent anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities: coastal anti-ship missile and artillery sites.

In a decade or so, the Sky Dragon is expected to be deployed aboard the ROKN's 3,000-ton next-generation submarine which is currently being pursued under the KSS-3 program. The submarine's joint primary contractors are Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). DSME has built eight of the ROKN's nine 1,400-ton Chang Bo-Go class (Type 209) submarines, while DSME and HHI have both participated in the construction of the more modern 1,800-ton Son Won-Il class (Type 214) submarines. Once deployed aboard the KSS-3 submarines, the Sky Dragon should function as one of the ROK's more formidable deterrent assets.

Additionally, the shipbourne Sky Dragon offers a more flexible method of deploying cruise missiles relative to the land-based Hyunmoo-3A which is currently in operation under the Republic of Korea Army.

The Sky Dragon's imminent deployment comes following two of the greatest national tragedies in the ROK's recent history: the Cheonan Incident and the shelling of Yeonpyeongdo. Since then, the ROK has been in search of more appropriate capabilities to deter the DPRK's limited attacks as well as to seek the means to realize more rapid and lethal responses to such provocations.

Years of ROKN efforts to develop its own cruise missile seem to have paid off just in time.