Atago-class destroyer

The Atago class is a pair of guided-missile destroyers of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, Atago and Ashigara, that are a modified version of the Kongō class carrying the Aegis Combat System. The navy ordered them in the 2002 and 2003 budgets to replace the ageing steam-powered Tachikaze-class destroyers, whose Tartar weapon systems were becoming obsolete. The design is an improved and scaled-up Kongō with a hull lengthened by four metres, a hangar for one SH-60K helicopter where the Kongō class had only a helicopter deck, and a plain-structure mast and reshaped funnel that lower the radar cross-section. Four Ishikawajima-Harima LM2500 gas turbines give a top speed of 30 knots. Without the missile reloading crane of the Kongō class, the ships carry 96 Mark 41 vertical launch cells, 64 forward and 32 aft, and a 127 mm gun lengthened to 62 calibres. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries built both ships at its Nagasaki shipyard.