South Korea has finalized an implementation plan to accelerate the deployment of its Long-range Artillery Mortar Defense (LAMD) system, often called the "Korean Iron Dome."
The government held the 174th Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee meeting on Tuesday and approved a revised "basic strategy for project promotion and system development master plan" to operationalize LAMD prototypes. The deployment timeline has been moved up by two years, from 2031 to 2029.
While deploying prototypes as operational assets has precedent in the tank and aircraft sectors, this marks the first such case for guided missiles. A total project budget of 842 billion won ($620 million) will be invested through 2030 for LAMD research and development.
Developed under the supervision of the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), LAMD is a short-range, low-altitude air defense weapon system. It is specifically designed to defend against simultaneous swarm attacks from North Korea's long-range artillery.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and ADD have previously stated they aim to develop LAMD as a higher-performance system capable of engaging more targets simultaneously than Israel's Iron Dome, which gained fame through combat use in Israel's war against Hamas.
While the Iron Dome can counter intermittently fired short-range missiles, LAMD is being developed as a weapon system capable of intercepting massive barrages of incoming rounds.
The committee also approved a procurement plan to acquire sea-based ballistic missile interceptors (SM-3 class) for the Jeongjo the Great-class Aegis destroyers (KDX-III Batch-II) through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) government-to-government contract process.
The contract is targeted for signing this year, with a total project budget of 753 billion won ($555 million) to be invested through 2031.
The SM-3's intercept altitude ranges from 90 to 500 kilometers, enabling it to engage ballistic missiles during their midcourse flight phase.
The SM-6 ballistic missile interceptor, previously confirmed for installation on the Jeongjo the Great-class Aegis destroyers, can intercept missiles at terminal phase at altitudes of 36 kilometers or below. With the addition of SM-3, the destroyers will have the capability to intercept enemy missiles during both the midcourse and terminal phases.
The committee also approved a revised basic strategy to replace the existing Link-11 combined maritime tactical data link with Link-22 for sharing tactical information during combined maritime operations. The upgraded version offers enhanced transmission speed, capacity, range and anti-jamming capabilities, with a total project budget of 592 billion won ($436 million).
The committee also passed the "2026–2030 Defense Industry Development Master Plan," a five-year plan to systematically support and foster the defense industry under the Act on the Development and Support of the Defense Industry.