US Ambassador to Korea Harris Revealed via Twitter
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Harry Harris, the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, disclosed via Twitter that the second RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance drone has been delivered to the South Korean military, posting a photo inside a hangar adorned with the Taegeukgi and the U.S. flag.
On the 19th, Ambassador Harris tweeted, "Congratulations to the ROK-U.S. security cooperation team for delivering the Global Hawk to Korea this week," adding, "A very good day for the Republic of Korea Air Force and the ironclad ROK-U.S. alliance."
It is unusual for the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea to reveal the introduction of American weapons before the authorities do.
However, Ambassador Harris did not specify how many units were delivered.
The Global Hawk is a satellite-level unmanned reconnaissance drone capable of identifying objects as small as 0.3 meters on the ground using special high-performance radar and infrared detection equipment from an altitude of 20 km.
It can operate for 38 to 42 hours per flight, with an operational radius of 3,000 km, allowing surveillance beyond the Korean Peninsula. It has a wingspan of 35.4 meters, length of 14.5 meters, height of 4.6 meters, a maximum cruising speed of 250 km/h, and weighs 11,600 kg. The Air Force has established a reconnaissance flight squadron to operate the Global Hawk.
To deploy the first Global Hawk, the Air Force completed the "Global Hawk (RQ-4) Operation Manual" at the end of last year. However, the Global Hawk is considered vulnerable to attacks from North Korea's surface-to-air missiles such as the SA-5 (Gammon, maximum range 260?300 km). Accordingly, the Air Force plans to supplement the operation manual based on operational experience from the first deployment scheduled for October.
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