United Arab Emirates is employing Korean KM-SAM II surface-to-air missile systems, also known as Cheongung-II, which have russian roots, to repel iranian ballistic missile attacks on the country. UAE ordered 10 batteries of these SAM systems back in January 2022 for $3.5 billion.
The first systems arrived by May of last year 2025. For KM-SAM II SAM systems, this is first combat employment, immediately against massed ballistic missile attacks. The Korea Times reports this.
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Defense Express adds that some of the most massed strikes are currently being delivered precisely against UAE. As of the evening of March 5, over 1,072 drones, 8 cruise missiles, as well as 196 ballistic missiles have already been launched against the country.
These are indeed quite difficult conditions for surface-to-air missile systems, providing a good opportunity to test KM-SAM II in combat. Despite this, the system appears to have handled this task well.
However, South Korean researchers say good KM-SAM II performance results in UAE will not mean analogous results against North Korean missiles, as iran employs missiles incapable of anti-missile maneuvers at terminal stage.
Overall, iranian missiles are less technologically advanced and sophisticated than North Korea's.
We should add that a good testing ground for South Korean surface-to-air missile systems against North Korean ballistic missiles is Ukraine, where specifically KN-23 are employed, as well as more sophisticated russian missiles.
Interestingly, South Korean KM-SAM II surface-to-air missile system has direct russian roots. In the 2000s, LIG Nex1 together with russian concern Almaz-Antey developed a missile for KM-SAM I, which was effectively based on the 9M96 missile used in S-400, S-350 and other SAM systems.
However, it should be noted that Almaz-Antey has long had no relation to the Korean SAM system. Moreover, since that time Koreans have independently created the significantly more sophisticated KM-SAM II, and now it is squeezing S-400 out of the region. Therefore, only distant roots are russian here now.
Recall that besides UAE in the Middle East, KM-SAM II SAM systems were also ordered by Saudi Arabia as well as Iraq. However, they will have to wait significantly longer than UAE for their systems. Amid the likely successful KM-SAM II employment, new contracts for these systems from this region can quite reasonably be expected in the near future.
Regarding specifications, KM-SAM II is capable of intercepting targets at ranges up to 40-50 km and altitudes up to 15-20 km. Besides the capability to intercept ballistic missiles using hit-to-kill principle, this SAM system can engage other aerial targets such as aircraft, cruise missiles, and so on.
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