[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] North Korea's Missile Button Press Will Be Detected

The improved Baekdu reconnaissance aircraft is scheduled to make its maiden flight on the 8th at TSTC Airport in Waco, Texas, led by the American defense company L3.

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The defense system for detecting and intercepting North Korean missiles is being reinforced.

The Ministry of National Defense and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration held the 135th Defense Acquisition Promotion Committee meeting yesterday and approved the second phase of the Baekdu System Capability Enhancement project.

The military will develop an improved signal intelligence collection system using purely domestic technology to replace the current Baekdu system. The project period is from this year until 2026. The total project cost is approximately 870 billion KRW.

The Baekdu reconnaissance aircraft belonging to the Republic of Korea Air Force could only capture North Korea's electronic intelligence (Elint) and communications intelligence (Comint). Electronic and communications intelligence are obtained through wiretapping or eavesdropping to learn about equipment operations such as radar activation or the content of wired and wireless communications. However, in 2016, domestic defense companies LIG Nex1 and Hanwha Thales added the measurement and signature intelligence (Fisint) function. This was to compensate for signal collection information not possessed by the high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft Global Hawk. The Fisint function detects signal exchanges between electronic devices even when there is no movement in North Korean military communications, nuclear facilities, or missile bases.

The second phase of the Patriot performance upgrade project was also approved. The Ministry of National Defense will acquire Patriot PAC (Patriot Advanced Capability)-3 missiles through FMS (Foreign Military Sales) and upgrade some of the PAC-2 launchers owned by the Air Force to PAC-3 launchers through foreign commercial purchases. The project period is from next year until 2027. The total project cost is approximately 770 billion KRW.

The currently deployed PAC-2 missiles are evaluated as insufficient for defense against nuclear or biochemical warheads because their warheads separate into multiple fragments. In contrast, PAC-3 missiles use a hit-to-kill method with a high interception rate. Especially compared to the existing PAC-2, which intercepts ballistic missiles by fragmentation and raises concerns about secondary damage on the ground from falling debris, PAC-3 can minimize secondary damage.