Korean Air Participates in 2nd Phase of Baekdu System Capability Enhancement Project... Strengthening Military Reconnaissance Capabilities

New Baekdu Reconnaissance Aircraft Developed through the Baekdu System Capability Enhancement Project

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Korean Air announced on the 1st that it plans to participate as the main contractor in the second phase of the Baekdu System Capability Enhancement project announced by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.

The Baekdu System Capability Enhancement project is aimed at developing a new reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Baekdu reconnaissance aircraft introduced by the South Korean military in the 1990s. The Baekdu reconnaissance aircraft is a core reconnaissance asset of the Air Force, named because its detection range extends to Baekdu Mountain.

Prior to this second phase, the first phase of the Baekdu System Capability Enhancement project was carried out over about seven years from 2011 to 2018, with approximately 400 billion KRW invested in development costs. At that time, two new Baekdu reconnaissance aircraft were completed by modifying and equipping the French Dassault business jet Falcon 2000S with information collection equipment and transmission/reception systems developed by LIG Nex1 and Hanwha Systems.

Korean Air played a key role in various areas during the first phase, including aircraft modification, comprehensive logistics support, airworthiness certification acquisition, and test flights. In particular, the company collaborated with the U.S. defense contractor L-3 PID to carry out the modification of the first aircraft and successfully modified the second aircraft domestically on its own by utilizing the technology and know-how acquired from the first aircraft modification.

The military evaluated the performance of the new Baekdu reconnaissance aircraft developed in the first phase as satisfactory and decided on the second phase project to develop four additional new Baekdu reconnaissance aircraft. The second phase is scheduled from 2022 to 2026, with the total project cost estimated to reach 870 billion KRW.

Meanwhile, the South Korean military currently operates a total of six Baekdu reconnaissance aircraft. Previously, four Geumgang reconnaissance aircraft were responsible for video information collection, while four Baekdu reconnaissance aircraft handled signal information collection.

A Korean Air official stated, "Since we have accumulated considerable know-how by participating in the first phase, we can successfully carry out the second phase as well," adding, "We are already accelerating full-scale project preparations, including signing an aircraft purchase agreement with Dassault."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.