The Republic of Korea Navy (RoKN) commissioned its first of eight Daegu-class (FFX II) frigates, called the ROKS Daegu.

According to South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), RoKN commissioned its ROKS Daegu (number FFG-818) on 1 February.

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The Daegu-class frigates are defence frigates of the Republic of Korea Navy. The Daegu-class is an improvement of the preceding Incheon-class frigate and has otherwise been referred to an Incheon-class batch II, or FFX-II. The first Daegu frigate is expected to become operational in the second half of 2018.

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The second ship is also being built by DSME while ships three and four will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) under a $586 million contract DAPA contract from December 2016.