Seoul develops new maritime radar system

Home > National > Politics

print dictionary print

Seoul develops new maritime radar system

South Korea’s arms procurement agency on Wednesday said it had successfully developed a new ground-based radar system for maritime surveillance with domestic technology and that units of the system have already been deployed in the field.

According to a press release from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the 31.5 billion won ($27 million) project to develop the new Maritime Surveillance Radar-II jointly with domestic defense contractor LIG Nex1, was recently completed and the radar has been operationalized for military use since September.

The radar will be installed in coastal locations and will be used to observe naval and aircraft activity as part of the military’s maritime defense system.

The system will be replacing older units used by the military since 1983, incorporating new operational information accumulated by the Navy throughout the last three decades into its design, thereby increasing its stability and performance, DAPA said.

In particular, the new radar has been greatly improved over older systems in terms of its ability to detect the direction and distance of targets more precisely, as well as in its capacity to distinguish between different objects.

Furthermore, a radome cover on the radar’s external antenna will enable its use even in unfavorable weather like during storms or heavy wind, while the radar’s miniaturization and lowered power consumption also contributes to added stability, DAPA said.

The agency also added that the domestic development of key parts of the radar, like its high-power transmitter system, proves not only the superior quality of South Korea’s military technology but that the successful development and deployment of the radar would enhance the competitiveness of the country’s defense industry.

This new radar is expected to play an important role in strengthening Seoul’s maritime defense amid the security concerns raised over an incident in June when a North Korean boat entered South Korea’s Samcheok Harbor, Gangwon, on its eastern coast undetected by naval surveillance.

BY SHIM KYU-SEOK [shim.kyuseok@joongang.co.kr]
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)