Published : Aug. 9, 2016 - 16:28
The South Korean military will deploy within a few months “jamming proof” air-to-ground guided missiles in a move to quickly enhance the country’s ability to detect and destroy North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction, officials said Tuesday.
Dozens of Taurus missiles that can be carried on F-15K fighters will be delivered from Germany by the end of this year.
The development follows the U.S. government’s approval of exports of military GPS receivers that can be attached to war planes. These are what makes the missiles jamming proof as they would be unaffected by North Korean GPS.
The receivers are capable of handling navigation equations to determine the position, velocity and precise time of the user by processing signals broadcast by U.S. military GPS satellites. The U.S. government has rarely allowed other countries to gain access to the receivers.
A F-15K carrying Taurus missiles. (Yonhap)
With the move, South Korea has become the first Asian country to operate Taurus missiles that have a range of over 500 kilometers.
The military said the F-15K Slam Eagle is designed to penetrate the North’s air defense systems and destroy major military facilities in contingent situations.
If armed with the Taurus missile, a plane can hit North Korea’s capital city of Pyongyang while flying over Daejeon, 164 kilometers south of Seoul. The military also said the jets can fire off a Taurus over the East Sea and hit the North’s missile launching facility in Hwadae in the northern part of North Korea.
“Taurus missiles combined with GPS receivers and the flight termination system, or FTS, will be deployed in two to three months with the Air Force,” an official from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said.
Taurus, which is 5.1 meters long and weighs 1,400 kilograms, has a 480 kg warhead and can fly as low as 40 m off the ground at a speed of Mach 0.95 that can allow it to evade enemy radar.