http://joongangdaily.joins.com, The Defense Ministry has named Boeing Aerospace of the United States and Israel Aircraft Industries' Elta Systems as preferred negotiating partners for its airborne warning project, called EX.
The ambitious project calls for the purchase of Airborne Warning and Control System planes from a single foreign supplier to boost the nation's independent ability to track North Korea's military movements. The radar systems in the aircraft can provide detailed battlefield information as well as alerts about aircraft movements.
Currently, the Korean military depends on the United States for such intelligence; the United States deploys such warning aircraft near the peninsula. The Korean military wants its own intelligence-gathering capability as part of its efforts to become more self-sufficient in defense and to cope with U.S. reductions in its military presence here.
Boeing has submitted a system that consists of a B737-700 plane equipped with Northrop Grumman's Multirole Electronic Scanned Array radar. The Israeli company is proposing Gulfstream G-559 aircraft equipped with their own radar systems. The military had asked for aircraft capable of staying aloft for six hours; both suppliers say their systems can operate for more than nine hours at a stretch.
The military plans to buy four aircraft, with two to be delivered in 2009 and the other two in 2011.
The ministry says it is planning to spend 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) on the project.
