S. Korea begins second round of production for Army's new command and control system

South Korea has launched a second round of production for the Army's newly upgraded command and control system designed to improve commanders' real-time decision-making ability in combat situations, the arms procurement agency said Wednesday.

The production for the Army's upgraded C4I -- command, control, communication, computer and intelligence -- system will by completed by October 2023 with a 150 billion-won ($135 million) investment, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.

The C4I system is core to network centric warfare, visualizing battlefields through the connection of surveillance, decision-making and attack processes.

The Army C4I's first improvement project was completed in 2011. The development for its second upgrade was finished in 2017 with the first batch of the new version deployed between December 2018 and June 2020.

The agency said the second batch which will be sent to two Army corps, and the Marine Corps headquarters will have some functions, such as its software and security system, additionally upgraded compared to the first batch.

When the production is complete, 75 percent of the country's ground forces will have the upgraded command and control system, it said.

"We will carry out the follow-up business to deploy the system to the remaining corps in line with our plan to make sure it can be timely put into force," Choi Ho-cheon, a senior agency official, said. (Yonhap)