USFK to run space-based early warning system with allies

Defense

Published: 06 Jun. 2023, 15:37

USFK to run space-based early warning system with allies

The insignia of the United States Space Forces Korea can be seen in this photograph taken of the command's establishment at a ceremony held on Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, on Dec. 14. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The space command of United States Forces Korea (USFK) will be tasked with sharing information from the U.S. military's reconnaissance satellites with South Korea and Japan, following recent plans by the three countries' defense chiefs to heighten missile defense cooperation against the rising military threat from the North.

A USFK spokesperson told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that the United States Space Forces Korea, known as SPACEFORCE-KOR within the U.S. military, will be charged with operating a shared early warning system (SEWS) with U.S. allies in the region.

“SPACEFOR-KOR is also responsible for establishing international partnerships within their area of responsibility, including those efforts to establish real-time trilateral missile warning information sharing between the U.S., ROK, and Japan,” an official from the command told RFA, referring to South Korea by the acronym for its official name, Republic of Korea.

The U.S. space force official also told the agency that the warning system is based on space-based infrared detection technology mounted on advanced U.S. military reconnaissance satellites.

U.S. reconnaissance analysts who can assess missile launch signs have recently been deployed to the peninsula, RFA reported.

The U.S. military is also currently working to upgrade its satellite-based missile reconnaissance capabilities.

U.S. defense company Northrop Grumman announced on May 24 that its Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) polar satellite, which is currently under development, passed its preliminary design review earlier last month.

The company won a $2.37-billion contract in 2020 to develop two next-generation OPIR polar satellites with infrared sensors to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles for the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command.

The spacecraft will be designed to travel in highly elliptical polar orbits, giving them full-time visibility of the Northern Hemisphere.

The satellites, due to be launched in 2028, would bolster U.S. military reconnaissance capabilities and likely also benefit its Asian allies, South Korea and Japan.

The three countries have carried out several maritime missile tracking and interception exercises amid a marked escalation in missile launches by North Korea, which said it tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in April.

During their trilateral meeting in Singapore on Saturday, the defense chiefs of Seoul, Washington and Tokyo agreed to activate a data-sharing mechanism to exchange real-time missile warning data before the end of the year.

The Pentagon said in a joint statement that the three military leaders — South Korean National Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada — agreed on the need to cooperate toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

They also underscored the importance of sustained international efforts to “deter, disrupt, and ultimately eliminate the DPRK’s illicit ship-to-ship transfers,” referring to North Korea by the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The statement also said that military exercises that contribute to strengthening the three countries’ joint response to the North’s nuclear and missile threats, including anti-submarine exercises and missile defense exercises, would be regularly held in the future.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]