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S Korea to buy Israeli radar to detect N Korean missiles
South Korea will buy an advanced radar system from Israel to detect and track North Korean ballistic missiles, officials said on Thursday.
The Defence Acquisition Programme Administration said it would place an order soon with Israel's Elta group for its Green Pine Block-B radar system.
Elta scored higher than France's Thales in a performance test in August, spokesman Kim Young-San told reporters.
"If deployed here, the system will significantly improve our anti-missile defence capabilities," he said, adding it could track any ballistic missiles fired by North Korea at an early stage.
The radars would be capable of monitoring ballistic missiles in flight at ranges of up to 500 kilometres, covering nearly all North Korean soil if deployed in South Korea by 2012, Kim said.
"We hope the radars will significantly improve our anti-missile defence capabilities," he said, declining to specify the cost of the order.
The air force last November took delivery of a first shipment of US-made Patriot air defence missiles, which were bought second-hand from Germany.
The North has about 600 Scud missiles capable of hitting targets in South Korea, and possibly Japanese territory in some cases.
South Korea will buy an advanced radar system from Israel to detect and track North Korean ballistic missiles, officials said on Thursday.
The Defence Acquisition Programme Administration said it would place an order soon with Israel's Elta group for its Green Pine Block-B radar system.
Elta scored higher than France's Thales in a performance test in August, spokesman Kim Young-San told reporters.
"If deployed here, the system will significantly improve our anti-missile defence capabilities," he said, adding it could track any ballistic missiles fired by North Korea at an early stage.
The radars would be capable of monitoring ballistic missiles in flight at ranges of up to 500 kilometres, covering nearly all North Korean soil if deployed in South Korea by 2012, Kim said.
"We hope the radars will significantly improve our anti-missile defence capabilities," he said, declining to specify the cost of the order.
The air force last November took delivery of a first shipment of US-made Patriot air defence missiles, which were bought second-hand from Germany.
The North has about 600 Scud missiles capable of hitting targets in South Korea, and possibly Japanese territory in some cases.
