{"id":85667,"date":"2023-10-05T17:03:20","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T17:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/10\/05\/japan-south-korea-and-the-us-should-mirror-aukus-for-destroyers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:05:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:05:52","slug":"japan-south-korea-and-the-us-should-mirror-aukus-for-destroyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/opinion\/2023\/10\/05\/japan-south-korea-and-the-us-should-mirror-aukus-for-destroyers\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan, South Korea and the US should mirror AUKUS for destroyers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is the first commentary in a multipart series exploring ways to strengthen the U.S. Navy\u2019s fleet. The second part is available <\/i>here<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month in Washington, leaders from Japan, South Korea and the United States gathered<\/a> to \u201cinaugurate a new era of trilateral partnership.\u201d Such alignment, they declared, would be necessary to generate \u201cthe common capacity required to ensure that the Indo-Pacific is thriving, connected, resilient, stable, and secure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an instrument of national power, naval military capacity is important because it deters potential aggressors and is a prescient indicator of victory<\/a> in a war at sea. However, U.S. defense-industrial base constraints complicate unilateral capacity-building efforts. Despite unprecedented bipartisan budgetary support for shipbuilding, domestic producers have struggled to keep pace<\/a> with Navy requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overcoming these challenges requires an ambitious approach. One alternative is to reduce or eliminate ships\u2019 upkeep periods to extend operational windows, though doing so compounds future maintenance bills. A better one is to capitalize on our collective strengths and leverage our allies\u2019 production resources while continuing to build at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. should mirror the AUKUS framework<\/a> between Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. to create a multinational guided-missile destroyer construction program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan and South Korea \u2014 the latter also known as the Republic of Korea, or ROK \u2014 have thriving shipbuilding industries that manufacture commercial vessels but also guided-missile destroyers, known by their naval designator DDG \u2014 and for less money<\/a> than the American variant I commanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter AUKUS\u2019 paradigm-shifting approach, in which the three nations will contribute to a new class of attack submarines \u2014 termed SSN-AUKUS \u2014 that is rooted in a U.K. design, incorporates technologies from the three partner nations, and will be built by both Australia and the U.K. Ultimately this will increase combined capacity by embracing commonality and leveraging all three nations\u2019 industrial bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For \u201cDDG-JROKUS\u201d to work, all three nations would have to agree to a standardized ship design. In theory, this should not be contentious because modern Japanese and South Korean destroyers already share American phased array radars, combat systems, vertically launched missiles and even silhouettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several ways in which a combined DDG-JROKUS shipbuilding program could be implemented:<\/p>\n\n\n\n