South Korea Upgrading ISR Capabilities

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

South Korea’s Air Force has recently announced that it will found a key airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) unit towards the end of the year as part of its plan to acquire Global Hawk drones.

Two RQ-4 Global Hawk UAVs will be delivered to the Air Force next year under a 2014 contract with the United States, with two more planned to arrive in 2019.

According to yonhapnews.co.kr’s report, these strategic assets are expected to improve South Korea’s capability to monitor North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities, adding to its Peace Eye airborne early warning & control (AEW&C) system aircraft.

The Air Force already has an ISR battalion, but it has decided to create a higher-level one to operate Global Hawk drones and analyze the data collected by them. The Global Hawk, which features high-altitude and long-endurance flight, is known for persistent near-real-time coverage using imagery intelligence (IMINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT) and moving target indicator (MTI) sensors. The UAV’s manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, explains in its website that the device is capable of flying 30 hours non-stop while maintaining its high level data-collecting abilities.