SSE-750K turbojet engine (photo : AVING)
According to Military Review magazine and official government notice, South Korea is in the process of negotiating the export of SSE-750K turbojet engine to Vietnam for its indigenous anti-ship missile program.
Vietnam has been showing interest in acquiring rocket engine for some time but has not found a willing provider. It is unknown at this time whether Vietnam is pursuing development of brand new anti-ship missile or if they intend on further developing the KCT-15 (licensed Kh-35) anti-ship missile.
The SSE-750K turbojet engine completed development in 2015 concurrently with the SSM-750K Sea Dragon tactical land attack missile.
The acquisition of South Korean SSE-750K turbojet engines is believed this could of been for further development of the KCT-15 (Vietnamese Kh-35) anti-ship missile (photo : QPVN)
The SSM-750K Sea Dragon is based on the SSM-700K C-Star anti-ship missile, which was originally equipped with SS-760K turbojet engine. All newly-produced C-Star missiles since 2017 have been equipped with SSE-750K.
The primary difference between the new SSE-750K and older SS-760K engines is the level of localization of critical components. The SS-760K used several foreign-sourced components while SSE-750K uses domestic counterparts, thus lowering cost and improving competitiveness in the export market.
(ROK Armed Forces)