Korea to Get U.S. Surveillance System

The U.S. Department of Defense made an announcement to the U.S. House of Representatives that it would supply an Aerospace Patrol System worth 0.2 billion dollars (approximately 190 billion won) in a bid to complement the Korean National Army’s capability in coping with North Korea’s possible provocation and to enhance its military intelligence powers, reported Reuters on September 6.

The international news agency revealed that the government report to the House written by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) under the wing of the U.S. Department of Defense included the message that “Seoul is in need of more support to continue strategic patrols and SIGINT (signals intelligence) operations and to run base stations. The U.S. is to sell necessary equipment worth 0.2 billion dollars such as strategic patrol planes and other related services.”

The SIGNIT operation includes a string of military tasks to detect enemy’s radar ranges and radar features and to listen to its communication by operating patrol planes equipped with intelligence systems.

The Air Patrol System’s major contractors are Lockheed Martin and L-3 communications, reported Reuters.

At present, the Korean forces operate a couple of patrol planes called ‘Baekdu’ and ‘Geumgang’ collecting Pyongyang’s military signs and image information.

sechepa@donga.com