In the early 1990s, the Korean government plan for the construction of next generation coastal ships namedFrigate 2000 was scrapped due to the1997 Asian financial crisis. But the decommissioning of theGearing-class destroyers and the aging fleet ofUlsan-class frigates, the plan was revived as theFuture Frigate eXperimental, also known as FFX in the early 2000s.
The Republic of Korea Navy initially wanted twenty-four 3000 ton frigates to replace theUlsan,Pohang andDonghae-class coastal fleet of 37 ships. It was later decided that six 2700 ton ships will be constructed for the first batch. In 2008, the plan was further downgraded to 2300 tons when presidentLee Myung-bak took office, with the number of ships for the first batch down to six. 8 ships are planned for the second batch of FFX with the final goal of 20-22 frigates.[2]
South Korea
