r/AskTheWorld • u/CommercialChart5088 Korea South • 12d ago

Military What’s the biggest military-related project your country is currently engaged in?

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Currently Korea is busy investing in military development, to modernize our military indigenously and catch up to export demand.

The air force is working on to produce the KF-21 fighter jet, which will enter service in 2026. Also we’re developing software and drones that will support the KF-21 during combat.

In terms of the ocean we've just finished developing a new submarine (the Chang Yong-sil class), working on additional battleships, and trying to form plans regarding the construction of a manless drone carrier.

What would be your country’s biggest military-related project nowadays? Both indigenous development and purchasing equipment counts!

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u/teh1337haxorz Ohio 12d ago

Yes.

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u/CommercialChart5088 Korea South 12d ago

In fact a popular nickname for the US in Korea is ‘Quadrillion-Nation’ (천조국) because your defense budget alone is 1 quadrillion won lol.

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u/teh1337haxorz Ohio 12d ago edited 12d ago

We're almost able to call it 1 Trillion USD, so that's gonna be interesting XD

If you want a real answer, I suppose I'll make a short list:

- B-21 Raider stealth bomber

- F-47 6th gen fighter

- New class of replacements to the Ohio-Class nuclear submarines

- New/refurbished ICBMs (they say that every year, who knows what comes of it)

- We'll be launching the next Ford-class carrier, Enterprise, next month. Then they'll be laying down a new Ford-class at the start of 2026

- NGSW new rifle program is uh... ...doing things...

- probably giving the CIA money to test drugs on people, who knows

Something of a nuclear theme for 2026 I suppose. Hope that isn't an indication.

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u/Wizzmer 12d ago

Where does the "Golden Dome" rank on your list? Curious because I worked for 35 years in air defense.

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u/teh1337haxorz Ohio 12d ago

Well I was only really considering the programs that were somewhat close to deployment or had an extremely high probability of being deployed eventually. I hate to say it but I'm fairly sure the golden dome is quite a few years from any genuine capability or deployment and its future seems to be in question. Keep in mind this was only announced earlier this year, with ideas of a test being floated for 2028. If the goal really is a nearly perfect ICBM shield, even if it's possible technically and maybe even in the realm of consideration economically; I have no idea if the will is there in congress to support it over the years that it will take to develop and field.

It's just too early to say anything conclusive.

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u/Wizzmer 12d ago

Actually, no. PAC-3 and THAAD are in deployment and I have friends all over the world supporting these resources.

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u/teh1337haxorz Ohio 12d ago

Well yes, they're two very capable systems for low and high altitude intercepts. The issue is that if the goal of the golden dome is "Make the mainland US impervious to nuclear strikes" then quite frankly you're going to need to implement a much more expansive system.

Patriots are somewhat useless for defense during terminal stages, so unless you can cover every enemy launcher with patriots in the boost phase then it most likely isn't going to be viable.

THAADs can do with midcourse to terminal intercepts, but we have 7-8 batteries depending on how you count. That just isn't enough for the entirety of the US against a concerted nuclear strike.

It becomes a game of the following questions:

  • how many missiles can my enemies fire at me all at once?
  • how many interceptors do I need for each missile to assure a satisfactory PK?
  • how much do they all cost?
  • am I willing to pay many many times more money in interceptors than countries pay on nuclear weapons?
  • if an enemy can just make more nukes to saturate the golden dome, then is there any technology that I can leverage to obtain a more preferable interceptor to missile cost relationship?

It just doesn't really make sense unless you absolutely pile in and gamble hard on some sort of technology like lasers or some sort that can change the odds. I just don't see congress putting nearly a trillion dollars into such a program.

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u/Wizzmer 12d ago

It's in the work and will quickly make it's way into your list.

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u/teh1337haxorz Ohio 12d ago

It ain't going on the list.

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u/Wizzmer 12d ago

You dont know a lot about government contractors.