Three companies bid to sell missile warning system to S. Korea

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, May 19 (Yonhap) -- Three foreign companies have placed bids for a contract
to sell early warnings systems to South Korea, which is stepping up its vigilance
over North Korean ballistic missiles, officials said Tuesday.
Israel's Elta Group, Thales Group of the Netherlands and Raytheon of the United
States have submitted their proposals this week to provide South Korea with
Ballistic Missile Early Warning Systems (BMEWS), the Seoul-based Defense
Acquisition Program (DAP) said.
A BMEWS, which can cost up to US$80 million, is a detection radar that uses
satellite data to warn against long-range missiles launched from as far away as
500 kilometers.
South Korea hopes to deploy such radars by 2012 when it plans to set up a
command-and-control center that can track and shoot down North Korean ballistic
missiles.
On April 5, North Korea fired a rocket that the U.S. and South Korea believe was
a disguised form of the Taepodong-2 ballistic missile theoretically capable of
hitting the western U.S.
Pyongyang says it put a satellite in orbit, a claim disputed by Seoul and
Washington.
"We hope the radars can help reinforce our missile interception capabilities," a
DAP official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The company to be awarded
the contract is likely to be decided before the end of this year after thorough
examinations."
samkim@yna.co.kr
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