Incheon-class frigate

The Incheon class frigates (Hangul: 인천급 호위함), also known as Future Frigate eXperimental or FFX during development, are coastal defense frigates of the Republic of Korea Navy. The lead ship was launched on 29 April 2011. The Incheon class frigates will replace the aging fleet of Pohang class corvettes and Ulsan class frigates, and take over multi-role operations such as coast patrol, anti-submarine warfare and transport support. Later batches are planned to be specialized on anti-air and anti-submarine warfare.

Development
In the early 1990s, The Korean government plan for the construction of next generation coastal ships named Frigate 2000 was scrapped due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. But the decommissioning of the Gearing class destroyers and the aging fleet of Ulsan class friagtes, the plan was revived as the Future Frigate eXperimental, also known as FFX in the early 2000s.

The Republic of Korea Navy initially wanted 24 3000 ton frigates to replace the Ulsan, Pohang and Donghae class coastal fleet of 37 ships. It was later decided that six 2700 ton ships will be constructed for the first batch. In 2008, the plan was further downgraded to 2300 tons when president Lee Myung Bak took office, with the number of ships for the first batch down to three. 3~9 ships are planned for the second batch of FFX with the final goal of 15 frigates.

Batch II vessels are to replace the twin gas turbine layout with a single Rolls Royce MT30.

In 2010 the construction of the first FFX frigate was awarded to Hyundai Heavy Industry and in April 2011 the first of its class, ROKS 'Incheon' was launched. The ship is named after the western port city of Incheon, representing the Republic of Korea Navy's initiative to defend the western islands due to the constant clashes with the North Korean navy in this area.

Armaments
Incheon class frigates' main gun is the 127mm/L62 Mk. 45 Mod 4 naval gun. This was chosen over a smaller 76mm for naval barrage support in amphibious landings and superiority in ship to ship firing. Point-defense armaments include a single 20 mm Phalanx CIWS and a RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile Block 1 21-round launcher. Anti-Submarine Warfare armaments consists of K745 LW Cheong Sahng-uh (Blue Shark) torpedoes. Anti-ship capability is provided by SSM-700K Hae Sung (Sea Star) long-range anti-ship missile, each with performance similar to the U.S. Harpoon. Land-attack capability is provided by the recently developed Hyunmoo IIIC (Guardian of the Northern Sky) cruise missile, which is similar to the U.S. Tomahawk.

Export Market
A variety of the Incheon class was reportedly being offered by an unnamed South Korean defense manufacturer to the Philippines' Department of National Defense for their requirement of 2 new frigates.

In November 2012, it was reported that Israel is mulling a deal to purchase four Incheon class frigates from South Korea, which would be built jointly by Hyundai Heavy Industries and Israel Shipyards. Israel is also transferring their technology to the Incheons. The 1,400-ton frigates under negotiation with Israel are said to be priced at about US$100 million each.