On Tuesday 12 July, South Korea launched the first LPX amphibious landing ship at the shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries & Constructions Co. in Busan.
The ship, named "Dokdo", is scheduled to be handed over to the South Korean Navy in 2007. Being 200 metres long, 31 metres wide and displacing 13,000 tond, the ship will carry 700 troops, 10 CH-60 helicopters, seven amphibious vehicles, six tanks and two small landing boats. The ship's long range volume search radar will be Thales' SMART-L system. At the moment of the launch, a wooden mock-up version of this radar took the place of the actual system that is still being tested in Hengelo, Thales-NL's headquarters.