Global Hawk Operational Rate at 50% Last Year... Surveillance and Reconnaissance Capability Gap

National Defense Committee Member Seol Hoon: "Unit 4 Underwent Maintenance for 139 Days Last Year"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Our military's high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, the Global Hawk (RQ-4), has been operating at only 50% availability. Although it is supposed to detect North Korea's nuclear and missile activities in advance, frequent malfunctions have made mission execution difficult, raising concerns about potential gaps in surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.

According to Seol Hoon, a member of the National Assembly's Defense Committee from the Democratic Party, on the 25th, the Republic of Korea Air Force introduced four Global Hawks starting in 2019. In the full operational year of last year, the first unit was grounded for 31 days, the second for 28 days, and the third for 35 days due to malfunctions. The fourth unit, introduced last in September 2020, was unable to operate for 139 days. Ultimately, the Global Hawk's operational rate last year was only 50%, falling short of the target operational rate of 70%.

Examining the malfunction details of the Global Hawk reveals issues in essential reconnaissance components such as the data link system signal processing device, ground station and video radar signal connection, Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) device malfunction, and video/image transmission failures. Since the introduction of the Global Hawk, the first unit has experienced 19 malfunctions, the second 18, the third 16, and the fourth 19. The maintenance costs alone reached 183.7 billion KRW last year. Considering that one Global Hawk costs about 200 billion KRW, the repair expenses are equivalent to the price of one aircraft.

Representative Seol stated, “We spent 200 billion KRW per unit to acquire them, but the operating and maintenance costs are equivalent to the price of one aircraft. Given that malfunctions in critical components occurred within less than a year, resulting in low operational rates, emergency countermeasures are necessary.”

In response, the Air Force said, “We will strive to reduce dependence on the manufacturer by expanding in-house maintenance capabilities to cut operating and maintenance costs.”

Meanwhile, the Air Force officially established the 39th Reconnaissance Wing, the unit for the high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft Global Hawk. The new wing will operate a total of five types of aerial surveillance and reconnaissance assets, including existing reconnaissance assets such as the Saemae (RF-16), Geumgang and Baekdu (RC-800), and the medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (MUAV) currently being developed with domestic technology. The wing, composed of fighter jets, air mobility aircraft, and unmanned platforms, will be divided by altitude and mission characteristics to monitor the entire Korean Peninsula.

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