, Korea will invest about 800 billion won ($870 million) to produce hundreds of military satellite communication terminals over the next five years, the country's defense procurement office said Monday (Dec. 11).
“The defense project promotion committee headed by Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo endorsed the plans without revision today, so the investment will be made to produce some 500 communication terminals by 2011,” Jeong Soon-mok, chief of the public affairs department at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
The project, developed by the Agency for Defense Development since 1996, will enable the country's military to communicate at a radius of up to 6,000 kilometers in partnership with its first military communication satellite, he said. The terminal types are land-based, sea-based and portable.
The Mugunghwa 5 satellite, jointly funded by the Defense Ministry and KT Corp., successfully lifted off from a U.S. vessel in high seas south of Hawaii on Aug. 22.
Alcatel of France built the Mugunghwa 5 satellite, the country's fourth commercial satellite, and its transmitter, while U.S.-based Sea Launch was responsible for lifting it into an orbit of 36,000 kilometers.
The satellite is expected to significantly improve the military's communications network, which has depended on land lines.
Korea also expects that the satellite will help improve the military's combat capabilities by significantly reducing the time that elapses between a command issued and its execution.
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