Arms agency completes deployment of advanced homegrown counter-battery radar

The state arms procurement agency said Friday it has completed deploying an advanced homegrown counter-battery radar in military units across the nation in a move to better detect North Korean artillery threats. The TPQ-74K began deployment in 2018 after a seven-year development period to prepare against possible North Korean artillery provocations targeting front-line islands in the Yellow Sea and the greater Seoul area. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said the transportable radar has been fully deployed at Army Corps units across the country and for the Marine Corps stationed in the border islands to serve as a key asset in artillery combat. It is the country's first counter-battery radar to be equipped with active electronically scanned array technology, making it difficult for the enemy to locate, according to DAPA. "This deployment will substantially improve capabilities to detect enemy artillery shells and greatly contribute to strengthening our military's artillery forces," L ee Myung, the head of DAPA's Firepower Program Department, said in a release. The official also expressed expectations of the radar's competitiveness in the global defense market if it is exported alongside South Korea's homegrown K9 self-propelled howitzers. North Korea, which has one of the world's largest artillery forces, has many long-range artillery pieces stationed within striking distance of the wider capital area -- home to nearly half of South Korea's 51 million people. In 2010, the North bombarded the border island of Yeonpyeong in the Yellow Sea, killing four South Koreans. Source: Yonhap News Agency