South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has upgraded the MASS countermeasure system to defeat the latest anti-ship guided missiles.
The offboard Rheinmetall system launches decoys to create a smokescreen around a ship for protection from anti-ship missiles.
The decoys generate signals mimicking a ship to deceive a missile’s search functions, such as infrared, electro-optical, laser, and radar.
Deployed in 2014, the MASS, or Multi Ammunition Soft Kill System, has enhanced South Korean naval vessels’ operational capabilities over the years.
The Upgrade
The latest missile seekers, however, can distinguish a ship from a decoy through the employment of radio-reflection signals, according to the DAPA.
To counter this, the agency installed an offboard corner reflector (OCR) on the MASS.
The OCR launches the corner reflector, which simulates “irregular radio signals at the corners of a ship where radio reflections are high,” the South Korean agency explained.
The upgrade has been demonstrated through actual launches at sea, it added.
Moreover, the upgraded system has been linked with the existing combat system and software of the ship, improving the integrated operation of target management, engagement, and weapons control.
“With this performance improvement … we expect that the anti-ship missile response capability will be strengthened and the survivability of ships will be increased, which will significantly enhance the Navy’s operational capabilities,” director of the infrastructure power business support division at DAPA, Park Jeong-eun, explained.
“We will continue to contribute to the enhancement of the military’s combat capabilities by improving the performance of weapon systems using the latest technology.”
