By Jun Ji-hye
South Korea has completed development of its own counter-artillery location radar that will help the military better track and strike enemy artillery batteries, the state-run arms procurement agency said Thursday.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said the domestic development project begun in November 2011 by defense company LIG Nex1 was officially completed July 28.
The government invested about 54 billion won ($48 million) in the project.
The newly developed radar ― counter-artillery detection radar-II ― was assessed as combat ready in tests conducted in April, DAPA said.
It added that mass production will begin next year for deployment of the mobile system.
The counter-artillery detection radar-II will complement the Army’s ARTHUR-K radar system imported from Sweden.
Such radar systems are key equipment to defend Seoul and the surrounding areas from North Korea’s long-range artillery.
The North is known to have deployed more than 300 long-range artillery pieces near the inter-Korean border, which can reach Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province with a population of roughly 20 million.
The radar developed by South Korea is capable of finding the location of enemy artillery units more than 60 kilometers away, compared to about 40 kilometers for the ARTHUR-K, DAPA said.
In addition, the new radar can operate for eight hours without interruption, two more than the Swedish radar.
“Once operationally deployed, the counter-artillery detection radar-II will play a pivotal role in counter-fire operations as it will improve radar coverage and operating time compared to the existing system,” DAPA said in a release.
“As the system has been developed using domestic technology, maintenance expenses will also be reduced significantly,” it added.