Northrop Grumman has signed a number of agreements with South Korean companies Huneed and LIG Nex1 to seek the requirements of the Korean Air Force (RoKAF) for the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System-South Korea (JSTARS-K).
Northrop said in a statement that the JSTARS-K system will be based on the Gulfstream G550 business jet and will use its experience in the battle management command and control (BMC2) field. The company also pointed out that it will lead this effort as a major system integrator, although it emphasizes that partnerships with local companies will ensure interoperability with other platforms and systems used by RoKAF.
Raytheon Technology is also competing for the same project and is cooperating with Bombardier and Korean Air to use the improved Bombardier Global 6500 business jet to promote the Korean Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR-K) platform.
South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) stated in its 2019-2023 mid-term defense plan that the country is seeking 4 to 8 ISTAR/JSTARS aircraft, investing 2 trillion won (1.71 billion US dollars), and the delivery time is 2023 to support A plan to transfer the control of the South Korean army to Seoul during the war.
At the same time, the country has also strengthened its surveillance capabilities of North Korea through the second white-headed ISR aircraft development program. It is reported that the existing supplier Korean Air is the only company bidding. It earlier delivered two Baekdu ISR platforms based on Dassault Falcon 2000S to RoKAF, which have since entered operational services.
It is understood that the second whitehead plan includes four aircraft, which will be developed from 2022 to 2026 and will cost approximately 870 billion won ($742 million).
Xiao Wu
