South Korea will push to develop its own indigenous long-range air-to-ground missile to cope with the growing military threat from North Korea, the state arms procurement agency said Wednesday, from the Yonhap.
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The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) plans to start its research on relevant missile technologies from 2018 with a plan to produce some 200 air-to-surface Taurus-class missiles until 2031.
The missile will be mounted on the KF-X fighter jets to be developed by mid-2020s. The military will spend an estimated 810 billion won (US$695.2 million) on the project.
The missile will be modeled after the Taurus which has a 500-kilometer range and can be fired from the country's F-15K. It is known to be capable of hitting the capital city of Pyongyang when fired from a plane flying over Daejeon, 164 kilometers south of Seoul.
The military is currently deploying the German long-range air-to-ground missile within this year.
The North has continued to enhance its military capabilities, carrying out two nuclear tests and dozens of missile launches this year alone.