South Korea and the United States plan to hold a joint military drill next month against a possible North Korean war operation to jam GPS signals, officials here said Sunday.
The practice will be staged as part of the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian, an annual combined defense exercise between the allies, aimed at improving their ability to locate and strike the origin of the North's wartime GPS attacks.
"A South Korea-US joint team will be formed at the Korean Air and Space Operations Center headquartered at the Osan Air Base during the UFG in August for the exercise to respond to various scenarios," an Air Force official said.
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Air Force officials monitors space information in this file photo. (Yonhap) |
Taking part in the task will be more than 60 officials from South Korea's Air Force and the US Strategic Command's Joint Space Operations Center, he added.
The two sides have staged a joint exercise twice a year mainly about troubleshooting GPS satellites and communications and support for combat operations.
In the upcoming drill, however, they will also train in direct countermeasures against GPS attacks, according to the official.
North Korea is known to have various types of truck-mounted GPS jamming devices with a range of around 100 kilometers.
South Korean civilian aircraft and ships have sometimes been affected by the North's GPS jamming.
Meanwhile, South Korea's Air Force plans to dispatch four commissioned officers to the JSpOC's training against space threats slated for July 20-29 in Virginia.
It would mark the first time for the South Korean military to send a delegation to the exercise also joined by several other countries including Germany and Australia. (Yonhap)
