South Korean Navy Launches High Speed Landing Craft

The South Korean Navy today launched the third and fourth high-speed landing craft (LSF-II) at Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction in Busan.

The LSF-II high-speed landing craft can carry fully armed troops, tanks, and armoured vehicles, and manoeuvring at high speed to conduct super-horizon amphibious operations, a press release from Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said.

Kim Gye-hwan, commander of the 1st Marine Division, said in his congratulatory speech, “The launch of the high-speed amphibious craft is very meaningful in that it helps the amphibious forces make a safe landing and adds a strong amphibious force that enables division-level high-speed amphibious operations.”

Named as “kite,” the vessel is about 28 meters long, 14.5 meters wide, about 8 meters high, and has a light tonnage of about 100 tons, and is armed with a 12.7 mm machine gun. The engine can be operated at an average speed of 40 knots (about 74 km per hour) using a gas turbine.

The high-speed landing craft has the advantage of being able to manoeuvre at high speed not only at sea but also in low-water depths or tidal flats, as it moves in the air-floating method by blowing buoyancy air into the skirt (air bag) to keep the ship afloat.

Kim Tae-hyeon (Colonel of the Navy), Director of the Amphibious Ship Project Team at DAPA said, “Subsequent mass-produced ships, including craft Nos. 3 and 4, are equipped with generators for high-speed landing craft that were researched and developed for the first time in Korea. and improved requirements are also reflected, so it is expected that the loading capacity and operator convenience will increase.”

The kite-633/635 launched on this day will go through a trial run evaluation period, complete the electrification process in early 2023, and be deployed in combat.