South Korea to deploy low-altitude radar system amid drone threat

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Defence & Security News - South Korea
 
 
Tuesday, October 21, 2014 12:45 PM
 
 South Korea to deploy low-altitude radar system amid drone threat
South Korea will deploy a low-altitude radar system late this year to guard the country against low-elevation military penetrations such as North Korean drones, defense officials said to The Korea Herald on Tuesday, October 21.
     
LIG Nex 1 might deploy its Air Force Low Altitude Surveillance Radar
     
Starting at the end of this year, the military will deploy three-dimension low-altitude radars, developed by local defense firm LIG Nex 1, for actual combat position, according to the officials.

These local radars are specialized in detecting and tracking aircrafts flying at low altitudes such as AN-2, a widely used light biplane developed by the Soviet Union in the 1940s, as well as unmanned drones within a 200-kilometer range, according to the military.

The detection system will also be equipped with the ability to issue early warnings of enemy penetrations.

"(With the upcoming radar deployment), our military will be able to upgrade its radar detection capacity by one more level," aid Choi Sung-hee, branch head of the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality.

Earlier in the day, the agency held a meeting with officials from the military procurement agency and other military officials to introduce the newly developed low-altitude radars.

South Korea has been seeking to counter North Korea's dispatch of spy drones across the border after a number of North Korean drones were found on South Korean soil in recent months.

Three small unmanned aerial vehicles were found crashed in South Korea in March and April, with officials concluding that they were sent from the North for spying missions.

The wreckage of one more similar drone, suspected of belonging to the North, was located in September, further raising security concerns.