By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea's Air Force plans to create a tactical reconnaissance wing consisting of surveillance airplanes, advanced airborne early warning & control (AEW&C) systems and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by 2012 in a bid to develop its independent intelligence gathering and surveillance capabilities against North Korea, a report said Sunday.
The Air Force will also establish a tactical air control command by 2010 to share the role of commanding and controlling air operations with the existing Air Force Operations Command, Yonhap news agency reported, quoting unidentified military sources.
The plans were designed to facilitate Seoul's planned takeover of wartime operational control of its armed forces from April 17, 2012, the sources were quoted as saying.
The envisioned reconnaissance wing will be controlled by an Osan-based air combat command to be launched in 2010, the report said. The air wing will have RF-4C surveillance planes, Hawker 800 aircraft, high-altitude UAVs and AEW&C aircraft, it added.
Lt. Col. Moon Chae-wook at the Air Force's public affairs office in Seoul confirmed the report.
``The Air Force is considering the ideas of creating a reconnaissance wing and an air control command to improve air combat capabilities, as well as raise the efficiency of air operations command and control under Defense Reform 2020 initiative,'' Moon told The Korea Times. ``But we're not sure now when the plans will be implemented exactly.''
Securing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities is a key to South Korea's executing independent operational control of its military during wartime, as the country now relies on the U.S. military's surveillance and reconnaissance systems.
To that end, South Korea will introduce four B-737 AEW&C aircraft systems of the Boeing Company beginning 2011 under a $1.6 billion contract.
The Seoul government is also seeking to purchase four RQ-4B Global Hawk spy planes from the United States by 2011.
The Global Hawk entered service after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. It is designed to survey vast areas with near pinpoint accuracy from as high as 65,000 feet for up to 35 hours. A unit costs $27.6 million.
The latest model, the RQ-4B, is estimated to cost $45-60 million. The RQ-4B would be able to fly just outside North Korean air space and see everything going on inside the North, defense experts say.
Earlier this year, South Korea's arms procurement agency, Defense Acquisition Program Administration, requested about $200 million for the purchase of the Global Hawk.
Seoul's plan to purchase Global Hawks has been stalled, however, as overseas sales of the aircraft are prohibited under the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), a global arms control pact.
The MTCR is a voluntary association of countries that share the goal of non-proliferation of ballistic missiles and other unmanned delivery systems that could be used for chemical, biological and nuclear attacks. The Global Hawk is classified as a category 1 item by the 34-member regime.
MTCR members are required to coordinate national export licensing efforts, and all MTCR decisions are made by consensus.
The United States is seeking to amend related provisions for the Global Hawk sale, but some member countries including Russia are skeptical about the plan, concerned it would undermine their own UAV technology, according to sources.