The Korea Herald:

South Korea’s Navy will join a Pacific Dragon multilateral ballistic missile defense exercise and separately conduct a live-fire drill to test the ability and performance of surface-to-air missile interceptors.

The two separate military drills will be staged during the US-led biennial Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC, exercise, multiple South Korean military officials, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed to The Korea Herald on Wednesday.

The 28th RIMPAC exercise, the world’s largest international maritime exercise, is set to be conducted for 37 days from June 29 to Aug. 4 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California.

During the drill, South Korean, US and Japanese warships with the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System tracked a virtual target and shared information including trajectory data through a tactical data network.

During the exercise, Standard Missile-2 surface-to-air missiles will be launched from South Korean warships against virtual targets to test the ability and performance of the missiles.

The 7,600-ton Sejong the Great-class Aegis destroyer and 4,400-ton Munmu the Great destroyer — which have been dispatched for RIMPAC — will each fire one SM-2 interceptor in waters off Hawaii, according to a military source.

Click here to read the full story