Seoul Takes Over 1st Batch of German Patriot Missiles

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Seoul Takes Over 1st Batch of German Patriot Missiles

By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

Twenty-four German Patriot missile defense systems have been delivered to the South Korean Air Force, officials said Friday.

The deployment of the upgraded Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-2) system is a core part of plans to build an independent theater missile defense shield, called the Korean air and missile defense network system (KAMD), to counter the increasing threat of North Korean missiles.

Twenty-four more will be handed over to the Air Force in coming years, the officials said. The service plans to operate two Patriot battalions beginning 2010.

A ceremony marking the delivery of the first batch of Patriot systems took place at the air defense academy in Daegu, about 300 kilometers south of Seoul, the Air Force said in a press release.

Among those present at the ceremony were Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kim Kye-hoon and German officials.

Last year, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration approved the $1 billion SAM-X project to purchase 48 second-hand PAC-2 launch modules, radars and missiles, including the Patriot Anti-Tactical Missile and Guidance Enhanced Missile Plus (GEM+) from Germany.

The agency also signed a contract to buy ground-control equipment from Raytheon, of the United States, to support two Patriot system battalions. A battalion is usually made up of three units, each of which has eight missile launchers and a command center.

The KAMD, also involving Aegis destroyer ship-to-air missile defense systems, is designed to intercept low-flying, short- and medium-range missiles from North Korea. The North is believed to have deployed more than 600 Scud missiles with a range of 320 to 500 kilometers, and 200 Rodong missiles that can reach Japan, near its border.

The low-tier missile shield is expected to reach initial operational capability by 2010, while full operational capability is expected by 2012, when a ballistic missile early warning radar is to be introduced, and when three 7,600-ton KDX-III Aegis-equipped destroyers will begin service.

A top official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the terminal KAMD system aims to remove North Korean missiles approximately 40 kilometers north of Seoul.

In 2006, Pyongyang test-fired a series of missiles off the eastern coast toward Japan, including a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile with a range of 6,700 kilometers, enough to hit the United States with a light payload. North Korea's short-range missiles pose a grave threat to South Korea and U.S. troops in the South, missile experts say, because they could reach South Korean territory within a few minutes.

South Korea originally planned to deploy more advanced PAC-3 systems to replace its aging ground-to-air Nike Hercules missiles in 2000, but budgetary issues and anti-U.S. sentiment altered the plan. Progressive civic groups argued that the purchase of PAC-3 systems was a move to join the U.S.-led global ballistic missile defense network.

The PAC-3 missile is a smaller interceptor designed to intercept incoming targets, while the PAC-2 uses an explosive warhead.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr

Link
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/11/117_35268.html
 
Good news, but I'd like to see a Korean indigenous high-altitute SAM that is on a par with the Patriot.
 
That would be a waste of time and money at this point.
We might as well get stuff that's already out there.
The military's big, the threat is big, the budget is small and you won't believe the number of Communists that have sprung up here in recent years. If someone's going to get Anti-American, then I guess that's their own right but why do they HAVE to go all Communist? It's retarded.
I swear... the biggest threat in the time of war is not really the missiles. It's the sympathizers, spies and saboteurs who are in country. They are probably North Korea's best shot because they will cause confusion and chaos like it's no body's business.
 
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