America can use all the help we can get. China is becoming increasingly militarized and bombastic. Building a larger Navy and threatening the commercial interests of the South Koreans and Japanese. We need our allies to step up, these are good first steps.
South Korea’s 2021-2025 defense blueprint, which was revealed yesterday, provides fresh details on the plans to develop an aircraft carrier capability for the Republic of Korea (RoK) Navy. The LPX-II project will be a dedicated light aircraft carrier for F-35B; it will not be an amphibious assault ship.
The LPX-II program originally meant to be an amphibious assault ship similar to the U.S. Navy’s Wasp-class of big deck amphibious warships, has now been officially revealed as a dedicated light aircraft carrier project. This means LPX-II will not have amphibious support capability — no well deck — and the vessel will be dedicated to air operations, with F-35B and rotary wings. The configuration is more like the first two amphibious warships in the U.S. America-class.
Source: South Korea Plans to Build F-35B Lightning Aircraft Carrier – USNI News