South Korea adopts new locally developed port surveillance system

South Korea has begun adopting a new locally developed port surveillance system that can “more effectively” detect, identify, and respond to low-noise underwater objects, including divers and increasingly quiet submarines, approaching its ports, the country’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced on 1 April.

South Korea’s DAPA announced on 1 April that the country has developed a new port surveillance system that can detect and identify underwater moving objects better than previous systems. (DAPA)

Already installed at major ports across the country, the system, which was developed by the Agency for Defense Development in co-operation with defence company LIG Nex1 for KRW130 billion (USD105 million), uses locally designed parts and components that “have significantly improved the detection performance and operational effectiveness over existing systems, and facilitated logistics support”, said the DAPA.

In particular, “by applying state-of-the-art locally developed underwater acoustic sensors, it is now possible to not only detect the low noise of a submarine, but also to detect and analyse the magnetic and acoustic signatures from its hull, which greatly improves our capability to monitor underwater objects” approaching ports, it added.

Depending on the port and the surrounding marine environment, it is possible to use a combination of locally developed underwater sensors and electro-optical equipment to increase the probability of early detection, stated the DAPA, pointing out that once a suspicious object is detected, the system will share the information with the military in real time because it is linked to the Republic of Korea Navy's major command-and-control and surveillance systems.