Nampo Guided Missile Frigate Unwrapped

Key Findings

• Satellite imagery acquired during the past 10 days shows the clearest view yet of North Korea’s largest warship, the new guided missile frigate (FFG) at the Nampo Navy Shipyard.
• The pace of observed activity suggests the frigate could be completed this summer.
• An April 21 image shows the netting that had previously covered the vessel at the dry dock has been removed, revealing an approximately 142-meter-long vessel undergoing fitting out.¹
• Details of the armament carried by the vessel cannot yet be determined due to the limited resolution of the imagery.

Our previous report on April 8 discussed the potential for the frigate to be equipped with helicopters as a guided missile frigate helicopter (FFGH). However, the small open stern deck of the vessel appears to be too small to permit helicopter operations at this point in the fitting out process. Continued monitoring will be necessary to assess the full capabilities of the vessel.

An earlier April 11, 2025, image shows ongoing work with the netting partially removed amidship and over the bow. Curiously, a small floating dry dock has been positioned under the frigate’s bow. The reason for this is unclear but may be related to work on the bow sonar.

An image taken seven days later, on April 18, 2025, cranes and deck barges are positioned on the vessel’s starboard side which appear to be working on the central superstructure. The netting has now been further removed amidship and over a larger section of the bow, and truck-mounted cranes have been brought to site to support the work.

The most recent image, acquired three days later on April 21, 2025, continues to show ongoing work on the vessel, with the majority of the overhead netting having been removed, indicating steady progress.