JAPANESE KONGO CLASS DDG LAST UPDATE: June 6, 2012     
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| SPECIFICATIONS | PHOTOGRAPHS (Click on the pictures for an enlarged photo) |
 Designation: DDG Length: 528 ft (161m) Beam: 69 ft (21m) Draft: 20 ft (6m) Displace (Full Load): 9,500 tons Propulsion: 4 GE LM2500, Gas Turbines; two shafts Speed: 30+ knots Range: 4,500 nautical miles (20 knots) Crew: 300 Helicopter(s): No Hangar Sensors: - AN/SPY-1D Radar - AN/SQQ-89 Sonar Suite Armament: - 61 cell Mk-41 VLS For SM-2, ASROC - 29 cell Mk-41 VLS Aft SM-2, ASROC - 8 Harpoon ASM - 2 X 20mm Phalanx CIWS - 1 X 127mm MK-45 DP Gun - 6 X Type 68 LW Torpedoes Ships in class: 4 DDG-173 KongoIn the late 1980s the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) identified a need for more modern and more powerful large surface combatants to act as flagships for their four destroyer flotillas. Owing to the strong capabilities and proven success of the United States Navy's Arleigh Burke AEGIS destroyers, the Japanese worked with the United States to develop a Japanese version of the Arleigh Burke destroyers suited for the unique self defense mission of the JMSDF. The result is the Kongo class of AEGIS destroyers. In developing and building these four vessels, the first of which, DDG-173, Kongo, was commissioned in MArch 1993, the Japanese became the first nation outside of the United States to acquire the vaunted AEGIS technology. The vessels are very similar in weapons fit to their US Navy counterparts, but do not contain the Land Attack Cruise Missile (LACM) capability. Outside of the weapons fit, the vessels do incorporate some other changes, including a seperate fire control system for the 127mm gun which has a faster fire rate than the US conterpart, a seperate backup surface/air search radar, a somewhat more robust Electronic Warfare (EW) fit, and a significantly lengthened helicopter landing deck, though no hangar or even haul down system is provided. The result is a very powerful AEGIS destroyer that displaces significantly more than their original Arliegh Burke class counterparts. In the late 1990s, playing off of the US redesign of the Arleigh Burke into the Flight IIA vessels which added helicopter hangar facilities to the new vessels, the Japanese decided to build their own version of the improved vessel, the Atago class. |
     
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Jeff Head is a member of the US Naval Insitute who has many years experience in the power, defense, and computer industries. He currently works for the federal government helping maintain regional infrastructure. He is the author of a self-published military techno-thriller called, "Dragon's Fury," that projects a fictional third world war arising out of current events. Learn more about that series by clicking on the picture of the novel cover below:
 DRAGON'S FURY-World War against America and the West |
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